Hallgrimskirkja, Harpa Concert Hall & Sun Voyager: Reykjavik's Architectural Trio

More than any other Nordic capital, Reykjavík translates its volcanic geology directly into architecture. Hexagonal cooling basalt lava columns, glacial ice crystals, and maritime horizons inspired the three monuments that define the city's skyline: Hallgrímskirkja atop Skólavörðuholt hill, Harpa Concert Hall at the mouth of the Old Harbour, and the Sun Voyager (Sólfarið) on the northern shore.

1. Hallgrímskirkja (74.5 Metres, Consecrated 1986) & the Leif Eriksson Statue

• Guðjón Samúelsson's Basalt-Column Expressionism: Named after 17th-century Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (author of the Hymns of the Passion), Iceland's largest church was commissioned in 1937 from State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson. Drawing directly on the hexagonal black basalt columns framing Svartifoss waterfall in Vatnajökull National Park, Samúelsson designed sweeping stepped concrete wings that rise to a 74.5-metre (244-foot) central spire, built over forty-one years between 1945 and 26 October 1986.
• The 5,275-Pipe Klais Organ, Belfry Lift & 1930 Leif Eriksson Monument: Stepping inside the luminous white Gothic-vaulted nave (which is free to enter) reveals the monumental 15-metre-tall, 25-tonne concert pipe organ built in 1992 by German master organ builder Johannes Klais of Bonn, whose 5,275 gleaming tin-and-copper pipes echo the exterior basalt columns. Purchase a tower ticket in the vestibule shop to ride the lift up to the open-air observation gallery just below the three church bells for a 360-degree panorama across Miðborg's colourful corrugated-iron roofs, Perlan, and Faxaflói Bay. Outside on the plaza stands the bronze statue of Norse explorer Leif Eriksson (Leifur Eiríksson, c. 970 to c. 1020), sculpted by Alexander Stirling Calder on a ship-prow pedestal and gifted to Iceland by the United States Congress in 1930 to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the Alþingi parliament.

2. Harpa Concert Hall (2011) & the Sun Voyager (Sólfarið, 1990)

• Harpa's Crystalline Quasi-Brick Facade (harpa.is): Anchoring the eastern edge of the Old Harbour at Austurbakki 2, Harpa opened in May 2011 as the home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Icelandic Opera and won the 2013 Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. Designed by Henning Larsen Architects and Icelandic practice Batteríið in collaboration with artist Olafur Eliasson, its southern facade is constructed from 714 three-dimensional twelve-sided steel-and-glass modules ("quasi-bricks") fitted with dichroic colour-shifting panes that shimmer like volcanic basalt and northern light. Walk inside the soaring public foyer free of charge to admire the kaleidoscope ceiling reflections and look out onto the harbour.
• The Sun Voyager (Sólfarið) on Sæbraut: Ten minutes' walk east along the paved Sæbraut coastal promenade stands Sólfarið (The Sun Voyager), unveiled in 1990 for Reykjavík's 200th municipal anniversary. Sculpted in polished stainless steel on a circle of granite slabs by Icelandic artist Jón Gunnar Árnason, the skeletal vessel was conceived not as a Viking warship, but as a dream boat and ode to the sun carrying the promise of undiscovered territory across the water toward Mount Esja.