Search Results for: lemurinn
Lemúrinn: That Time an Icelandic Linguist (Almost) Rescued a British Stockbroker Stuck on the Greenland Ice Cap
The past was a simpler time, back when any young Briton could embark on daring expeditions to far-flung locales in…
The Man Who Sold His Corpse For A Drink
In 1904, the municipal council of Reykjavík agreed that the local medical school should be allowed to use the corpses…
The Man Who Didn’t Like Hangikjöt: W.H. Auden In Iceland
by Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson and Vera Illugadóttir
In 1936, a thirty-year-old poet from Britain travelled around Iceland. His name was Wystan Hugh Auden—you probably know him as…
Show Up Naked On Monday And You’ll Get A Free Phone
As a great number of Icelanders camped out in front of Reykjavík’s Dunkin’ Donuts hoping to be one of the…
The Skeleton On The Hill: A Look At Hallgrímskirkja In Its Infancy
by Lemúrinn
Hallgrímskirkja is arguably Reykjavík’s most emblematic landmark. The Lutheran church was commissioned in 1937 and was built over the course…
Better Than Any Modern Travel Book: A 16th-Century German Travel Poem About Iceland
A mysterious man visited Iceland sometime between the years 1554 and 1586, when Hanseatic merchants ruled the ports and trade…
Fine dining in Iceland in 1809: “A Most Involuntary Intemperance”
In the summer of 1809, a young British botanist, William Hooker, visited Iceland on the first botanical expedition of what…
Collect ‘Em All: When Reykjavík’s Bums Appeared On Postcards
Being able to live anonymously is one of the great perks of modern civilisation. In a big city today, it’s…
Lemúrinn: Do Sheep Care About Solar Eclipses?
by Lemúrinn
Many Icelanders will, weather conditions permitting, get to witness a solar eclipse on March 20. The last total eclipse of…
Lemúrinn: The Icelandic Doctor Who Performed Testicular Transplants
by Lemúrinn
During his studies in Vienna in the 1920s, Icelandic physician Dr. Jónas Sveinsson discovered a remarkable new form of treatment:…
In The Year 2000, Ants Will Have Conquered The World
by Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson and Vera Illugadóttir
Icelanders in 1971 predict the futureIn 1971, the magazine Samvinnan gathered a panel of Icelanders to predict the state of…
The Sinister Christmas Clan Of Iceland
by Helgi Hrafn Guðmundsson and Vera Illugadóttir
In Iceland, there is no Santa Claus. Instead, there are thirteen “jólasveinar,” which can be translated to “Yule Lads.” They…
A Spaceship In Iceland!
by Lemúrinn
A specially prepared Boeing 747 NASA aircraft landed at Keflavík Airport in May of 1983. This would probably not have…
When Bubbi Dug Up Eleven Grams For Dylan
Singer and songwriter Bubbi Morthens recently related the story of how he went looking for cannabis for Bob Dylan, when…
The American Soldier Who Travelled To The Year 900 In Iceland
What if a modern person travelled back to Viking times? In 1956, the American science fiction author Poul Anderson pondered…
Höfði-San: Shrimp Salesman Built A Replica Of A Reykjavík Landmark
Iceland became the focus of world attention when US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavík…
“What A Hard Life Is That Of The Poor Icelanders!”
One day in August 1888, the British steamer ‘Camoens’ docked in the town of Akureyri in Northern Iceland. The ‘Camoens’-for…
Best Of The News
In reviewing the past year in news, you will see certain patterns emerge: certain public figures, events and topics that…
Raccoons In Iceland: A Sad History
As visitors to Iceland will no doubt soon realise, Iceland’s fauna is not particularly diverse. Several attempts have been made…
Danish Surveyors On A Road Trip Around Iceland
In the years 1900-1910, several teams of surveyors from the Danish Geological Survey institute travelled around Iceland, taking photos and…
Lemúrinn: Thorarinn Gunnarsson: Iceland’s Forgotten Sci-Fi Superstar
With powerful AI-controlled ships, the Starwolves have been defending the Republic against the numerically superior but technically inferior Union forces,…