{"id":4611,"date":"2012-08-31T14:01:29","date_gmt":"2012-08-31T18:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4611"},"modified":"2018-08-03T22:12:12","modified_gmt":"2018-08-04T02:12:12","slug":"friday-august-31-2012-lutheran-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=4611","title":{"rendered":"Friday, August 31, 2012 \u2014 Lutheran Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

Halls\u00adgrim\u00adskirk\u00adja<\/p><\/div>\n

Reykjavik\u00b4s most promi\u00adnent visu\u00adal land\u00admark is the Halls\u00adgrim\u00adskirk\u00adja named after Hall\u00adgrimur Peturs\u00adson, a 17th cen\u00adtu\u00adry poet whose haunt\u00ading hymns I have record\u00adings of at home. It\u00b4s a twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry struc\u00adture, in con\u00adcrete, but it\u00b4s style so suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly fus\u00ades mod\u00adern and goth\u00adic ele\u00adments that it has a \u201ctime\u00adless\u201d look. It is equal\u00adly pleas\u00ading in the inte\u00adri\u00ador. The stat\u00adue in front of it is of Lei\u00adfur Eir\u00edks\u00adson (Leif Eric\u00adson). The res\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial streets around it have a pleas\u00adant jum\u00adble of old and new hous\u00ades. Seri\u00adous, Luther\u00adan-look\u00ading cats peer from the win\u00addows. Next to it, there\u2019s a rather spooky lit\u00adtle enclosed gar\u00adden filled with the sculp\u00adture of Einar Jonns\u00adson, and a muse\u00adum devot\u00aded to him. His work might best be described as \u201chero\u00adic fan\u00adta\u00adsy\u201d. In this gar\u00adden set\u00adting, it is quite enchant\u00adi\u00adng. I don\u00b4t think it would look as good in the cold light of a gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>

Einar Jonns\u00adson sculp\u00adture garden<\/p><\/div>\n

The hous\u00ades in this neigh\u00adbour\u00adhood (the \u201c101\u201d postal code, made famil\u00adiar in a movie title) has many of Reyk\u00adjavik\u2019s old\u00adest hous\u00ades, many with stern, Luther\u00adan-look\u00ading cats peer\u00ading out their cur\u00adtained win\u00addows. The old\u00ader ones gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly mix well with the new\u00ader ones, since both have very sim\u00adple, un-orna\u00adment\u00aded styles. A few have some restrained gin\u00adger\u00adbread. But one looked quite bizarre \u2014 a weird mix\u00adture of high Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan gables, Ital\u00adianate porch\u00ades and steps, and a bit of Hol\u00adly\u00adwood vul\u00adgar of the 1920s. It was aban\u00addoned, board\u00aded up, and decay\u00ading, some\u00adthing entire\u00adly out of place in neat-and-tidy Ice\u00adland. With a large yard, rust\u00aded gate, and a scrag\u00adgle of semi-wild veg\u00ade\u00adta\u00adtion, it looked haunt\u00aded. With ghosts trot\u00adting around Ice\u00adland in great num\u00adbers, you would expect it to pos\u00adsess one. But when I asked an Islander who lived near\u00adby who lived in it, she explained that it had been built by a rich eccen\u00adtric long ago, then aban\u00addoned, been owned by the city for a long time, then sold to a Nor\u00adwe\u00adgian artist who let it run down fur\u00adther, then sold again to one of the Bank\u00adboomers, who intend\u00aded to ren\u00ado\u00advate it. That brought it up to 2008, and of course, that prospect evap\u00ado\u00adrat\u00aded in the crash. But no ghost. Count\u00adless ghosts haunt\u00ading Ice\u00adland, and none of them bright enough to install itself in a prime location.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>

Old\u00ader hous\u00ades in Reykjavik<\/p><\/div>\n

I had two exteme\u00adly pro\u00adduc\u00adtive dis\u00adcus\u00adsions with his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans at the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty (H\u00e1skoli Islands).<\/span><\/p>\n

Gu\u00f0\u00admundur Half\u00adda\u00adnar\u00adson is an affa\u00adble, imp\u00adish his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan of the City of Reyk\u00adjavik, and he had all the facts I need\u00aded at his fin\u00adger\u00adtips. His office is a hob\u00adbit-hole, stuffed not only with books, but with hun\u00addreds of mod\u00adels, toy vikings, trolls and gnomes. A few min\u00adutes in his com\u00adpa\u00adny put me at ease for meet\u00ading Ice\u00adlandic aca\u00add\u00ade\u00admics. They seem to quite approach\u00adable. I leaned that the town of Haf\u00adnar\u00adfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, just to the south, had been a can\u00addi\u00addate for the nation\u2019s cap\u00adi\u00adtal until it was real\u00adized that the lava fields around it made it dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to get to by land (com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion by sea was still the Ice\u00adlandic norm at the time). But most of my ques\u00adtions con\u00adcerned munic\u00adi\u00adpal struc\u00adture and the divi\u00adsion of pow\u00aders. There is no mul\u00adti-tiered sys\u00adtem of admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion. May\u00adors in the past has sub\u00adstan\u00adtial direct pow\u00aders, and used them auto\u00adcrat\u00adi\u00adcaly if they were so inclined. Only in recent decades has their pow\u00ader been curbed, and a greater dis\u00adtinc\u00adtion made between admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtive and polit\u00adi\u00adcal func\u00adtions. Munic\u00adi\u00adpal pol\u00adi\u00adtics is par\u00adty-based (unlike in Cana\u00adda), but vot\u00ading pat\u00adterns and loy\u00adal\u00adties aren\u2019t the same on the munic\u00adi\u00adpal and nation\u00adal lev\u00adels. The nation\u00adal polit\u00adi\u00adcal par\u00adties could claim spe\u00adcif\u00adic towns as baili\u00adwicks. How\u00adev\u00ader, the cur\u00adrent sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion in Reyk\u00adjavik is a his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal anom\u00adaly. Abrupt\u00adly, after the finan\u00adcial cri\u00adsis, the angry vot\u00aders put in pow\u00ader a \u201cjoke par\u00adty\u201d com\u00adposed of artists, bohemi\u00adans, and activists. The nation\u2019s best-known come\u00addi\u00adan is now the may\u00ador \u2014 much to his own sur\u00adprise. This group is now try\u00ading to face up to the prob\u00adlem of run\u00adning a real gov\u00adern\u00adment. Any\u00adone can imag\u00adine the kind of dis\u00adas\u00adters that can hap\u00adpen in this type of sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion, but no seri\u00adous ones seem yet to have devel\u00adoped. They have been nei\u00adther dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly suc\u00adcess\u00adful nor unsuc\u00adcess\u00adful so far, but they are wide\u00adly per\u00adceived as a coterie pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00aded in the chic \u201c101\u201d neigh\u00adbour\u00adhood. We spoke of a num\u00adber of urban issues, but this, and the fact that the Dan\u00adish cul\u00adtur\u00adal influ\u00adence in the city\u2019s his\u00adto\u00adry has been over\u00adstat\u00aded in the books I\u2019ve read are what I remem\u00adber most.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eggert Thor Bern\u00adhards\u00adson is the head of the Depart\u00adment of His\u00adto\u00adry and Phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, and some\u00adwhat more urbane and less imp\u00adish, but our talk was very long, and went into great depth. I found him fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading. He was able to describe in suc\u00adcinct, evoca\u00adtive phras\u00ades the social psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgy that pre\u00adced\u00aded the finan\u00adcial melt\u00addown, and its sub\u00adse\u00adquent effects. His views con\u00adfirmed many of my guess\u00ades. He point\u00aded out that the crash involved a gen\u00aduine col\u00adlapse of the coun\u00adtry\u2019s finan\u00adcial insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, and this was the doing of gen\u00aduine crooks, but the nation\u00adal finances were not par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly out of order at the time. The state had not run up great debts dur\u00ading the boom. The con\u00adse\u00adquences for most Ice\u00adlanders were not dire, and the present lev\u00adel of employ\u00adment is high\u00ader than most of Europe. Ice\u00adlanders still enjoy a high stan\u00addard of liv\u00ading, though their delu\u00adsion that they had dis\u00adcov\u00adered a mon\u00adey mill, like the Gods pos\u00adsessed in the V\u01eblus\u00adp\u00e1<\/em>, and many of their lux\u00adu\u00adries have van\u00adished. Prob\u00adlems cre\u00adat\u00aded by a dis\u00adas\u00adtrous\u00adly deval\u00adued cur\u00adren\u00adcy remain, and their solu\u00adtion is not obvi\u00adous. At the moment, a num\u00adber of promi\u00adnent Islanders are propos\u00ading that the coun\u00adtry adopt the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Dol\u00adlar as its cur\u00adren\u00adcy. The par\u00adty in pow\u00ader pins its hopes on the EU<\/span>. Nei\u00adther of these strike me as par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly good ideas. Our dis\u00adcus\u00adsion ranged over wide fields in eco\u00adnom\u00adics an his\u00adto\u00adry, but focused on these points for the most part. The dis\u00adcus\u00adsion was exact\u00adly the sort of thing I came to Ice\u00adland to experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reykjavik\u00b4s most promi\u00adnent visu\u00adal land\u00admark is the Halls\u00adgrim\u00adskirk\u00adja named after Hall\u00adgrimur Peturs\u00adson, a 17th cen\u00adtu\u00adry poet whose haunt\u00ading hymns I have record\u00adings of at home. It\u00b4s a twen\u00adti\u00adeth cen\u00adtu\u00adry struc\u00adture, in con\u00adcrete, but it\u00b4s style so suc\u00adcess\u00adful\u00adly fus\u00ades mod\u00adern and gothic \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-al-blog-2015"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4611"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7585,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611\/revisions\/7585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}