Ásatrú temple in Iceland nears completion after funding delays

Construction of the Ásatrúarfélagið temple in Öskjuhlíð has progressed well after work was halted for several years because of a lack of funding, mbl.is reports. All concrete work on the first phase has now been completed, and temporary facilities have been put into use on the site.

Part of the building is already in use, although the project as a whole is not finished. Architect Magnús Jensson said the communal area and the main support rooms had been opened.

“The communal area is in a space that will be possible to open into the sanctuary, which is now being used as an outdoor space. A temporary wall currently separates the two areas,” he said.

The building has not yet been given a name. Magnús said it would be named when it is consecrated.

“A building of world-historical importance”

Magnús described the building as historically significant on a global scale. He said Norse mythology was highly popular internationally, but that this popularity often had negative aspects, including the glorification of what he called an underdeveloped understanding of humanity in the past.

Ásatrú associations are active throughout the Nordic countries and in many other parts of the world, he said, but none has yet built a temple.

“If this comes to pass, this will be the first chief temple built in Northern Europe since the temple in Uppsala was burned in 1081,” Magnús said.

He also described it as historically significant that local culture was finally being placed on an equal footing with a culture that had previously dominated through power and had been represented in a large number of buildings. He added that the liberalism of Ásatrúarfélagið in Iceland had relevance beyond the country.

At the forefront internationally

In Iceland, the heathen movement is the second-largest religious movement after Christianity and, according to Magnús, the fastest-growing one. He said it was at the forefront internationally.

He said there was not complete agreement within Ásatrúarfélagið that the word “religion” adequately described the heathen tradition. It has no creed and no missionary work, he said, adding that efforts had been made to free heathenism from a Christian understanding of what religion is.

Magnús said people sometimes changed the names of traditions and expected them all to fit the same model, even though ancient people in the Nordic countries had been strongly scientifically minded.

He referred to the medieval text Konungsskuggsjá, which he said clearly states that the Earth is spherical. He also said Þorsteinn surtr’s calendar was more accurate than the famous Mayan calendar, while Stjörnu-Oddi, who independently studied the movement of the sun, is considered one of the greatest scientists of the 12th century.

At the same time, he said, people in the Nordic countries worked extensively with dreams and dream interpretation and respected knowledge that could only be gained personally. In that sense, he said, the region had a rich religious culture, with rituals supported by the finest art in words, carving, architecture and clothing.

“Nothing was spared to create a sacred moment in which things are viewed in a larger context, a moment of holistic thought,” Magnús said.