930930–1000 · Þingvellir

The Althing at Þingvellir

The Icelandic flag flies at Lögberg, the Law Rock, beneath the lava cliffs of Almannagjá — Photo: Olga Ernst. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Norse settlers of Iceland set up a national assembly in 930, meeting each summer in the rift valley at Þingvellir, where a lawspeaker recited the law from the Law Rock. Around the year 1000 the assembly adopted Christianity for the whole island to avoid a civil war. The sagas set many scenes here, and the Althing met at Þingvellir until 1798.

Political History
Religious & Pilgrimage
Literary History
Reykjavík, Iceland

Sites

Site 1: Lögberg (Law Rock) and the Almannagjá riftA flagpole below the rift wall marks where the lawspeaker addressed the assembly.Map ↗
Site 2: National Museum of Iceland, ReykjavíkFinds and manuscripts from the settlement and the commonwealth era.Map ↗