Congratulations to Roderick Simpson for correctly identifying Reykjavik Harbor in Iceland and specifically Harpa, the building from which this harbor was photographed!
Dominating Reykjavik’s waterfront, Harpa is the city’s new Concert Hall and Conference Center. It’s impossible to miss this massive structure, with its interesting and unique three dimensional multicolored glass facade. Harpa is home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera and can seat up to 1,800 in its largest room.
Harpa’s construction was plagued with problems, some technical but mostly money-related. Half completed when the country’s financial crisis hit several years ago, it was almost abandoned. Fortunately it was finished but the final tab was US$250,000,000 (in a country with just over 300,000 people, that’s almost US$1000 debt per citizen). I hope the investment pays off.
It’s a fascinating building to visit, not just because of its size and physical presence, but because of the interesting use of angled glass and light. The accompanying photos gives you a feeling for this.
These are really some of the best photos I’ve seen of the Harpa! Sometimes photos capture what you remember and other times they captures what you miss. In this case, your photos show how much I missed looking at the same glass .