The Blue Church in Seydisfjordur, Iceland

The Blue Church in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland, before the landslides of December 2020. It is one of the most recognisable landmarks in Iceland.

The church used to stand at Dvergasteinn farm and in 1882 it was moved to Vestdalseyri. At first the church stood on a hill overlooking Vestdalseyri but in 1894 it was blown over and damaged by a huge storm. The church was rebuilt, this time down on the peninsula and stood there until 1920 when the decision was made to move to its present location in the heart of Seyðisfjörður.

In 1989 the the Blue Church was damaged by fire when renovation work was being carried out on the building and a pipe organ that was installed in 1987 was ruined by the flames. Today the Blue Church has a pipe organ of the same type as the one that was lost to the fire.

The Blue Church is open to visitors in the summer.

Seyðisfjörður is a town and municipality in the Eastern Region of Iceland at the innermost point of the fjord of the same name.

A road over Fjarðarheiði mountain pass connects Seyðisfjörður to the rest of Iceland. Seyðisfjörður is surrounded by mountains with the most prominent Mt. Bjólfur to the west (1085m) and Strandartindur (1010m) to the east. The fjord itself is accessible on each side from the town, by following the main road that leads through the town. Further out the fjord is fairly remote but rich with natural interests including puffin colonies and ruins of former activity such as nearby Vestdalseyri, from where the local church was transported.

The town of Seyðisfjörður is well known for its old wooden buildings and has remnants of urban street configurations within its urban fabric.

In December 2020, a series of mudflows hit the town after days of heavy raining, destroying several houses. After 10 houses where damaged on 18 December, including the headquarters of the local SAR team, a complete evacuation of the town was ordered. A month after the mudflow hit the town, the damage had been fully estimated. In all 39 houses had been damaged, twelve of them completely destroyed and five more significantly damaged. The total damage was estimated by the Government of Iceland at over 1 billion Icelandic Króna. (Description from Wikipedia and visitseydisfjordur.com)
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