Blönduós Church is the church of Blönduós, a town on Route 1 in Northwest Iceland, at the mouth of the glacial river Blanda. It was built in concrete between 1982 and 1993 and stands on the hill above the town, its outline shaped to resemble a volcanic crater. Services are held for up to 250 people. Most travellers stop on the way past for the architecture; the interior, lined in pale wood, is not always open.
Blönduós Church
Local name: Blönduóskirkja
Eleven years in the building, from 1982 to 1993, and the finished outline was meant to resemble a volcanic crater.
- Accessibility
- Wheelchair-accessible entrance and wheelchair-accessible parking.
- Parking
- Free. Two car parks nearby — one about 58 m from the church, the other about 103 m.
- Transport
- A bus stop named Blönduós is about 212 m from the church; no route number is given.
- Address
- Hólabraut 15, 540 Blönduós
What makes it special
The shape is the point. Blönduós Church is a concrete building on the hill above the town, and its form was designed to resemble a volcanic crater: angled walls instead of a nave and a spire. Construction ran from 1982 to 1993, and the church holds services for up to 250 people. Inside, the walls are lined in pale timber and read as plainly Nordic. One visitor who found the doors locked described looking at that woodwork through a window. Most people come for the outside, and one put the whole stop at ten minutes.
Good to know
- Getting inside is not guaranteed. One visitor found the doors locked in 2026, and could see the timber interior only through a window.
- It is a short stop. One visitor put it at ten minutes — the exterior is the reason to pull over, not the inside.
- Toilets. There are public toilets about 215 m away, free to use.
- Nearby. An information centre is about 200 m off, and Hrútey, an island nature reserve in the river Blanda, is under 600 m away.
Getting there
Blönduós sits on Route 1 at the mouth of the glacial river Blanda, and the town is a standard break on a drive across the north. The church stands on the hill above it. Most people arrive by car, and two car parks sit beside the church, so the walk from the car to the door is a matter of metres.
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Frequently asked questions
Can you go inside Blönduós Church?
Not reliably. One visitor found the doors locked in 2026 and said the church had been open to sit in five years earlier; another, a year before that, could not tell either way. The timber interior is visible through a window.Why does the church look the way it does?
Its architecture is intended to resemble a volcanic crater. The building went up in concrete between 1982 and 1993, on the hill above the town, and holds services for up to 250 people.How long does a visit take?
Short. One visitor described a ten-minute stop for the architecture and said there is little else to see at the church itself.What else is there in Blönduós?
An information centre stands about 200 m from the church. Hrútey, an island nature reserve ringed by the river Blanda, lies under 600 m away and is reached by a pedestrian bridge just off the ring road. The town also has the textile museum Heimilisiðnaðarsafnið and the Icelandic Textile Center.