For Curious Minds

The Chained Church (1900)

This Icelandic church was chained down in 1900. The site of the church is called Kálfafellsstaður, whose original church was destroyed in 1886 by a storm. The only thing left standing after the destruction was an effigy of Saint Olaf. The church was rebuilt around 1926. So from 1887 to 1925 there should not have been a church – and if there was one, why would it have been chained?

Wooden church chained to the ground.

Sources: “The Chained Church” (1900) by Frederick W.W. Howell. Credit Cornell University Library, public domain. Kálfafellsstaður church site information.