Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the

Alþing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...

, the annual

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

of Iceland from the year 930 until the last session held at in 1798. Since 1881, the parliament has been located within Alþingishúsið in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. is now a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the municipality of in southwestern

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, about 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Iceland's capital, . is a site of historical, cultural, and geological significance, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Iceland. The park lies in a

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

that marks the crest of the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

and the boundary between the

North American North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...

and Eurasian

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

s. To its south lies , the largest natural lake in Iceland.Geology and Tectonics
/ref> National Park ( ) was founded in 1930, marking the 1000th anniversary of the Althing. The park was later expanded to protect the diverse and natural phenomena in the surrounding area and was designated as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

in 2004.

Toponymy

The name is derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

(), from (“ thing, assembly”) and (“field”), meaning ''assembly fields''. Compare the English '' thing'' and ''

weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...

'' (“Thingweald”) from

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and . The site takes its name from (''Althing''), the national parliament of Iceland, which was founded at in 930 and held its sessions there until 1798. A '' thing'' was a form of governing assembly found in Germanic societies, and a tradition that endures to this day in one form or another across

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

. Although the name is plural, the older form is singular, and the modern singular form can still be heard. The name is most commonly anglicised as ''Thingvellir'', and might appear as ''Tingvellir'', ''Thingvalla'' or ''Tingvalla'' in other languages. The spelling ''Pingvellir'' is also seen, although the letter “p” does not correspond to the letter “þ” (thorn), which is pronounced , like the ''th'' in ''thirst''.

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

and Tingwall in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Thingwall Thingwall is a village on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. The village is situated approximately to the south west of Birkenhead and north east of Heswall. Historically part of Cheshire, the area is within the Pensby and Thingw ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Tynwald Tynwald (), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald () or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of Keys and the indirectly chosen Leg ...

on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

, Dinklage in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and Tingvoll in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

bear names of the same root and meaning.

History

became a

as a result of legislation passed in 1928 to protect the remains of the parliament site, thus creating the first national park in Iceland. The park was decreed "a protected national shrine for all Icelanders, the perpetual property of the Icelandic nation under the preservation of parliament, never to be sold or mortgaged."

Founding of Iceland's parliament

According to the Book of Settlements (), the

settlement of Iceland The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...

began in 874, when the Norwegian chieftain became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island. Over the next centuries, people of Norse and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

origin settled in Iceland. Early on, district assemblies were formed, but as the population grew, there was a need for a general assembly. The descendants of Ingólfur who dominated the region of southwest Iceland had become the most powerful family in the country, and other chieftains felt a need for a general assembly to limit their power. was allotted the role of rallying support and finding a suitable location for the assembly. At about the same time, the owner of (the contemporary name for the region) was found guilty of murder. His land was declared public, and then obligated to be used for assembly proceedings, and the building of temporary dwellings, and the forest to be used for kindling and the

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to free range (roam around) and consume wild vegetations in order to feed conversion ratio, convert the otherwise indigestible (by human diges ...

of horses. The area was chosen for this reason and its accessibility to the most populous regions of the north, south, and west. The longest journey a (chieftain) had to travel was 17 days, from the easternmost part of the country where mountains and glacial rivers proved bothersome obstacles.Björnsson, Björn Th. ''Þingvellir''. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfa Menningarsjóðs, 1984. The foundation of the Icelandic parliament is said to be the founding of the nation of

, and the first parliamentary proceedings in the summer of 930 laid the ground for a common cultural heritage and national identity. played a central role in the history of the country, and its history runs almost parallel with the history of the

Icelandic Commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. W ...

From commonwealth to foreign rule

The (assembly) at was Iceland's supreme legislative and judicial authority from its establishment in 930 until 1271. The or Law Rock was the focal point of the and a natural platform for holding speeches. The Lawspeaker, elected for three years at a time, presided over the assembly and recited the law of the land. Before the law was written down, he was expected to recite it from memory on the throughout three summers along with the complete assembly procedures every summer. Inauguration and dissolution of the assembly took place at the , where rulings made by the Law Council were announced, the calendar was confirmed, legal actions were brought and other announcements made which concerned the entire nation. Anyone attending the assembly was entitled to present his case on important issues from the Lögberg. The Law Council served as both parliament and supreme court. Laws were passed and approved there, and rulings were made on points of law. The Law Council appointed members of the Fifth Court (a kind of

appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...

) and the Lawspeaker and took part in the election of the bishop. Unlike the , the Law Council was a closed body in which only certain people enjoyed full rights: chieftains who held the office of , their and later also bishops. However, everyone at the assembly was entitled to watch and listen to the Law Council at work. From the earliest times until the 15th century, the Law Council met at on the east bank of , but when the river changed its course around 1500, the council was moved to an islet in the river. In 1594, the Law Council was relocated to the foot of the ancient Law Rock, where it remained until the was finally transferred from it in 1798. The was Iceland's legislative and chief judicial authority for the duration of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, until 1271. Executive power was in the hands of the chieftains and parties to individual cases. This proved to be quite an adequate arrangement for as long as the balance of power remained, but flaws emerged when it was disrupted. In the final decades of the Commonwealth, there were clashes between chieftain families, which resulted in Iceland coming under the Norwegian crown. Executive power was strengthened under this new order, while legislative and judicial authority at first remained in the hands of the , but was gradually transferred to the Norwegian and later the Danish rulers, until in 1662 when the King of Denmark became the absolute monarch of Iceland.

Social centre

was the centre of Icelandic culture. Every year during the Commonwealth period, people would flock to from all over the country, sometimes numbering in the thousands. They set up temporary dwellings ( , pl. ) with walls of turf and rock and temporary roofing of homespun cloth, and stayed in them for the two weeks of the assembly. There were no permanent buildings on apart from a farm and, later, two churches. Although the duties of the assembly were the main reason for going there, ordinary people gathered at for a wide variety of reasons. Merchants, sword-sharpeners, and tanners would sell their goods and services, entertainers performed, and ale-makers brewed drinks for the assembly guests. News was told from distant parts; games and feasts were held. Young people met to make their plans, no less than leading national figures and experts in law. Itinerant farmhands looked for work and vagrants begged. was a meeting place for everyone in Iceland, laying the foundation for the language and literature that have been a prominent part of people's lives right up to the present day.

Nationalist symbol

During the 19th century, emerged as a nationalist symbol. According to Icelandic political scientist , "Thingvellir can be likened to a church or building which serves as a pilgrimage destination and as a site for the nation-state’s ritual ceremonies."

Death of a prime minister

Bjarni Benediktsson was the

prime minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland () is head of government of the Republic of Iceland. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president of Iceland, president and exercises executive authority along with the Cabinet of Iceland, cabinet subje ...

when he died in a fire at a government summer house at Þingvellir on 10 July 1970. His wife and grandson also perished in the blaze.

Geology

is notable for its unusual

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

and

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

environment in a

. The

continental drift Continental drift is a highly supported scientific theory, originating in the early 20th century, that Earth's continents move or drift relative to each other over geologic time. The theory of continental drift has since been validated and inc ...

between the

and Eurasian Plates can be clearly seen in the cracks or faults which traverse the region, the largest one, , being a veritable canyon. This also causes the often measurable

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s in the area. Some of the rifts are full of clear water. One, , was bridged for the occasion of the visit of King Frederik VIII of Denmark in 1907. On this occasion, visitors began to throw coins from the bridge into the fissure, a tradition based on European legends. The bottom has become littered with sparkling coins, and the rift is now better known as , or "coin fissure". is situated on the northern shore of , the largest natural lake of Iceland. The river traverses the national park and forms a waterfall at the , called . On the lake's northern shore, the Silfra fissure is a popular diving and snorkelling tour location. was designated a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

based on cultural criteria. It may also qualify on geological criteria in the future, as there has been ongoing discussion of a possible "serial transboundary nomination" for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which would include other sites in the Atlantic such as

Pico Island Pico Island (''Ilha do Pico,'' ) is an island in the Central Group, Azores, Central Group of the Portugal, Portuguese Azores. The landscape features an eponymous volcano, Mount Pico, Ponta do Pico, which is the highest mountain in Portugal, the A ...

. Together with the waterfall Gullfoss and the

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

s of , is part of a group of the most famous sights of Iceland, the Golden Circle.

Art

Because of its natural environment, Þingvellir has been a subject in the works of several Icelandic painters, including and . The National Gallery of Iceland owns more than 150 paintings by that have as their subject. grew popular among artists not only for its natural environment but also because it was close to the capital of Iceland, and thus relatively inexpensive to travel there.

Tourism

National Park is popular with tourists and is one of the three key attractions within the famous Golden Circle. There is a visitor centre, where visitors can obtain an interpretation of the history and nature of . There is an information centre near the camping grounds. There are hiking trails, such as the Execution Trail and the nearby Leggjabrjótur . Scuba diving has also become popular at Silfra Lake as the continental drift between the tectonic plates made it wide enough for divers to enjoy unparalleled visibility.

Related places

Culturally related places

Things (assemblies)

* , one of the first Norwegian legislative assemblies and one of the present-day law courts of

western Norway Western Norway (; ) is the Regions of Norway, region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the Counties of Norway, counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrative fu ...

. * , the historical legislative assembly of . * , the parliament of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

and , the site of the Faroese government. *

, the legislature of the

. ''Tynwald'' shares the root and meaning of its name with .

Cognate toponyms

, a royal burgh in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. *

, a village in

Wirral, England The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of (), and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebingt ...

. * Tingwall, a parish in

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

. * Tingwall, a hamlet and harbour in

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

. * Tingvoll Municipality, a municipality in Norway. * Thingvalla Township in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

, one of that state's earliest Icelandic settlements, was named in honor of .

Geologically related places

* Gough and Inaccessible Islands in the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

. *

in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Trivia

* The Thingvalla Line, a Danish shipping company active between 1879 and 1898, was named after . At its peak, the company had ten ships in its fleet, one of which was named the S/S ''Thingvalla'', launched in 1873. The company operated four other ships which bore Icelandic names, namely the S/S ''Geiser'', S/S ''Island'' and two vessels named S/S ''Hekla''.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

*
UNESCO World Heritage listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thingvellir Tingvellir Tingvellir Tingvellir Tingvellir Thing (assembly) World Heritage Sites in Iceland Protected areas established in 1930 1930 establishments in Iceland Ping Cenozoic rifts and grabens