Now & Then: Schola Reykjavicensis

Educating Iceland’s elite since 1057

Pictured is Lækjargata, home to many of the oldest buildings in Reykjavík, which — perhaps surprisingly — only date back to the latter half of the 18th century, at best, while most of the buildings on the street are 20th-century vintage. In North America, that would be considered normal for a city, on the European continent, ridiculous. And what is our excuse? Mostly without wood and without skill at stonemasonry, we built out of turf. And when we did manage to import some wood and raise a building, that building would either succumb to fire or wind. So sorry about the lack of vintage buildings here.

The most prominent building in the older picture is one of the few older buildings in Reykjavík that, while built for purpose, still retains that purpose. It was built in 1846 as the then almost only higher education institution in Iceland, and while it originally had a different name, it has been known as Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík or MR since 1937. In contrast, just down the road, is the Prime Minister’s office. Originally built as a prison.

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík is not only a building. It is an institution which, with some mild wishful thinking, can trace its origins back to the first school in Iceland, set up by the first bishop, in the first bishopric, in Skálholt in 1057 or so. Its original purpose was to educate the clergy, but as the centuries progressed, it would also educate Iceland’s ruling elite. By the end of the 18th century, the bishopric — and the school — were moved to Reykjavík, and finally into the building pictured above in 1846.

Until more colleges were established in the latter half of the 20th century, everybody who was somebody was educated at MR, and the trend has continued, with the school graduating a disproportionate number of well-known names and faces in politics, business, arts and academia in Iceland. For example, five out of seven presidents of Iceland were educated there, and a majority of Iceland’s prime ministers went there too, current Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir included.