101rvk

The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 6 — 2013
Vera is one of the editors of an Icelandic web magazine called Lemúrinn (Icelandic for the native primate of
Madagascar). A winner of the 2012 Icelandic Web Awards, Lemurinn.is covers all things strange and interesting!
Go check it out at www.lemurinn.is.
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The Icelandic Tourist Experience In 1925
Words by Vera Illugadóttir
In July 1925, a German cruise ship called the SS München stopped
in Reykjavík, its first stop on a month-long trip to the wild north,
including subsequent stops in Jan Mayen, Svalbard and the north
of Norway before returning to Germany in August.
Iceland’s tourism industry had not really taken off in 1925. A
cruise ship landing in Reykjavík was rare enough that newspapers
reported detailed information about the ship, its passengers—
about 400 people—and their itinerary during their stay in Iceland.
They stayed in Iceland for two days, spending their first day
at Þingvellir, where they listened to a lecture about the ancient
Alþingi, and their second day in Reykjavík, where they enjoyed the
capital’s rich cultural life including a wrestling match and a performance
by a female choir wearing national costumes.
According to an article in the newspaper Vísir, the passengers
included “members of the German Friends of Iceland society, including
the director of the society’s new Berlin division, the merchant
herr Emil Deckert.” Also on board was the photographer
Richard Fleischhut, who took the photos that appear here.
The newspaper urged its readers to treat the foreigners with
“the utmost kindness and friendliness.”
The Germans coming ashore at the Reykjavík harbour.
This almost post-apocalyptic scene is actually our
German tourists exiting the museum of sculptor Einar
Jónsson on Skólavörðuholt, the hill in the city centre
where Hallgrímskirkja now stands. The museum, which
opened in 1923, is the first art museum in Iceland.
A female choir dressed in Iceland’s national costume
performing onboard the SS München.
It is a sad modern development that exhibition matches
in Icelandic glíma wrestling are no longer held, especially
for tourists. The German tourists sat in the front
row for this match staged at Reykjavík’s central square
Austurvöllur.
The Germans in Þingvellir, a must-see site for tourists
in 1925 as in 2013.
Traditional Icelandic turf dwellings slowly disappeared
during the first half of the twentieth century, but here
we see an example from Reykjavík, still inhabited.
Preparing one of Iceland’s main exports, dried salted cod.
The hot spring in Laugardalur, where generations of
Reykjavík’s citizens did their laundry until the 1930s when
the city got its first hot-water supply. Laugardalur is now
better known for its swimming pool and sports arena.
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