20051131.0638

20051131.0638

Yesterday to visit Hólar

Holarskoli is a humbling place. First, there has been a school there for more than 900 years. They want to celebrate their 1000 year anniversary next year. The art in the church dates to before the protestant conversion in Iceland. That would be 1500s. Some is even older. So the altar-back was brought over from Norway by the last Catholic bishop from his ordination studies in 1400-something. There were two crucifixes and two altar backs that were 500 years or more. The altar in the church was closer to 900 years old, they think. The bishop was the last catholic bishop, and he was a holdout for the true faith. When Norway and the South-Iceland folks changed, he would not. For ten years he stayed back in his valley and insulted the converts. At one point, he rode around the island, kidnapped the south bishop, and brought him back north. When he got home, he tied up the other bishop and insulted him with poetry. After a few days, he let him go. This bishop was finally caught by the Norwegians and was beheaded. The bells in town tolled spontaneously upon his exectution, and some of them even broke with sadness. His two sons were exectured also, and the weight of their three spirits sitting on the altar-back that was being taken from the church, made it too heavy and the usurpers left it behind. That bishop is buried in the church’s tower. Some of the other notable historical figures in that region are also buried in the floor, including the only woman to have an in-church grave in Iceland. The tower is not attached to the church since that bishop was beheaded. The church itself is only a hundred or so years old. The churches sometimes would blow down in storms, so they would have to be rebuilt. This one is made of local red rock, with a little bit of timber framing from the church immediately prior.

There has been a school there for hundreds of years, and they have found the old printing house. They have excavated it, finding lead typeset. They have a copy of one of the first bibles that one of their significant scholars translated into Icelandic. They had an Icelandic bible a decade before the Norwegian state had one in Norwegian. They located a collector who just died and has one copy each of every book put out by holar’s press. They are hoping his estate will make them a gift of the books. I can’t say I blame them, and I hope they get them.

They have a “theory” house. This is a building that is to replicate one of the historic buildings that is gone now. They built it Norwegian log building style with massive stacked timbers on one side. The other side was a different Norwegian style, that included vertical planking or logs. That side was locked so I didn’t get a good look. The doors were these little five foot things you had to stoop to get into. Inside it was an old fashioned log building. The marks of the hand tools (they didn’t use power tools) were present. The electricity was on remote control, so the lights weren’t wired into the logs. IT was simply one of the most beautiful pieces of handcrafted building I’ve ever seen, in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

The school there is tiny, and occupies mostly one building. There are residential houses that are unattached. True to old fashioned form however, there is a main building that houses the classrooms, the departments, the administration, and the cafetria. What a place. It gives you an insight into what all the old church schools around the Midwest might have felt like, minus the wireless of course.

This says nothing about the beauty though. This place looks like it comes from a movie set. It honestly looks like the valley from the lord of the rings movies. The valley is small enough that the enormous walls rising up around you close you in. Further, their nearness reinforces how high the valley goes. The school itself is situated right on the flanks of one of the valley walls. It could not be any closer to the steeps or it would be unstable. So the wall rises right out of their backyard. I saw some pictures, and pictures just don’t work. You can feel the enormity of the valley, its closeness. And yet it is not so small as to feel claustrophobic. You stand there and look down the valley to the sea, and hear nothing but a little creek, and the whispers of the wind in the valley. I got out of the car and said to Thoroddur, it looks like Yellowstone.

The irony that these people are researching and teaching tourism is unreal. This is one of the most quiet contemplative places I’ve ever been. It’s got a thousand year history. The first farmstead in the valley is visible from the school. The natural beauty is truly awe inspiring. This place is so stinking real. I can’t imagine selling it. Whoring.

I hope they fail.