From Iceland — Longest Icelandic Love Letter Four Meters Long

Longest Icelandic Love Letter Four Meters Long

Published September 7, 2020

Catherine Magnúsdóttir
Photo by
Pezibear / Pixabay

The longest Icelandic love letter measures four metres in length and originates from around 1900, when a young couple corresponded between Reykjavík and Copenhagen.

Rakel Adolfsdóttir, curator of the Icelandic Women’s Museum in Víðsjá, presented the letter and talked about its history in an interview with RÚV.

Sigurbjörn Á Gíslason wrote the love letter to Guðrún Lárusdóttir, after she had asked for a long letter in December of 1900. His response consisted of multiple pages of paper, written on on both sides and glued together, resulting in a length of four meters.

A letter long enough for Sigurbjörn to hug Guðrún, as he was not able to do so in person at the time. The couple later got married in Reykjavík and ended up having ten children together.

The letters between the couple, including the four meter long one, are now preserved in the Women’s History Museum at the National Library of Iceland.

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