Þingeyrakirkja

Þingeyrakirkja is the first stone built church in Iceland, located in Húnaþing between two waters Hóp and Húnavatn. The congressman Ásgeir Einarsson had the church built and it was consecrated in 1877

Prior to this there was an old turf church the site. Ásgeir decided to build the church with stone, but suitable material was not available in the vicinity so in the winter 1864 - 1865 Ásgeir had stone moved from Nesbjörg to the church site. The stone was taken by sled over the ice-covered lake Hóp, an 8 km long journey. A Stonemason by the name of Sverrir Runólfsson built the church walls. Each stone in the walls was put in stowage or tied down and also glued with chalk, therefore the stones have not moved to this day. Ásgeir and Sverrir arranged most of the plans for the church and its building took 13 years. On The 9 September 1877 the Reverend Eiríkur Briem from Steinnes consecrated the church. Objects from the old church were moved to the new one. The church has many valuable objects. The oldest of these is an altarpiece made of alabaster probably from the 13th century. The pulpit is probably of Dutch origin and from the year 1696. The pulpit was a gift from Lárus Gottrúp lawyer, who resided at Þingeyrar monastery from 1683 - 1721. He also gave a bounteous silver baptismal font with the date 1663 and the date 1697. The church also owns a silver chalice and an altar linen with the date 1763.