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Icelandic Friend Of Mine: In the central square you'll probably see girls of high school age weeding the flower gardens. That is standard procedure in all the garden-parks of the city. In the shopping streets you'll see an extraordinary number of bookstores and that too is typical of Iceland. There is no illiteracy whatever in the republic, and the per capita rate of book buying is claimed by Icelanders to be the highest in the world, surpassing even that of Finland. An Icelandic friend of mine named Sigurdur Magnusson recently wrote a book of travel on a tour he took to the Orient and in a fortnight the entire printing of 2000 copies was sold out.
4, 5. Icelandic Art, Ancient and Modern The National Art Gallery, a splendid modern building, houses Icelandic treasures dating back, in some cases, to about 900. There are beautiful wood carvings, finely fashioned drinking horns, Viking Ornaments in various materials and early ecclesiastical vestments and works of religious art. There is one original sculpture by Bertel Thorvaldsen, whose father was an Icelandic wood carver.
1,2,3. Festivals, Pageantry and Fairs Icelandic Independence Day, on June 17, commemorating the founding of the republic, is the chief day of Icelandic festivities, but the permanent setting for classical and popular dramas, occasional operas and frequent symphonic concerts is the National Theater in Reykjavik. On at least 220 of the year's 365 eve ings something is happening in the auditorium of this busy building. Exotic plays such as Life with Father and Death of a Salesman have been given in the Icelandic language with outstanding success, and, on loftier levels, Shakespeare is a perennial favorite. |
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