The statue of Leifur Eiriksson that stands in front of the National Church of Iceland is one of the many connections Iceland has with America. In 1930, it was gifted to Iceland from the United States to commemorate the 1000 year anniversary of Alþingi (the oldest Parliament in the world). But even gifts sometimes generate disagreement--after much bickering over its final placement, two years later it was installed on top of Skólavörðurstígur, a small uphill street that veers off of downtown's main street, Laugavegur, where it now stands in front of the National Church of Iceland, Hallgrímskirkja.
On July 17, 1932 a US representative of Denmark, Frederick W.B. Coleman unveiled the statue and it has stood there ever since. During the unveiling in 1932 Iceland was still controlled by Denmark, there was no church, and only hopes, dreams and a sketched-out plan to build one. Thirteen years later (in 1945) and just one year after Iceland gained independence, building of the church began. The church was not fully completed until 1986 when it was consecrated.
Seven years after the statue's unveiling, Iceland participated in the World Fair in New York and came up with the idea of creating a replica of its beloved statue for display in the Icelandic pavilion. An identical copy was made, using the original plaster casts which, luckily, were preserved at the Smithsonian Institution in New York. The statue was designed by American sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder, who won a 1929 competition for the design of the monument. It also is one of his three best known works, the others being “George Washington as President” on the Washington Square Arch in New York City and the Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia. Probably the reason for the Smithsonian's preserving the cast. After the World Fair, the duplicate statue was placed in the entrance of the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, where it still stands today.
Given the statute’s connection with the Mariners’ Museum, the Icelandic Association of Virginia unsurprisingly come together to celebrate Leifur Eiriksson day each year on October 9th, a day that was officially recognized in 1964 to be in observance of the contributions of Americans of Nordic descent. The day was chosen due to the large number of people that migrated from Norway to the United States in 1825 on a ship called “Restauration” and their arrival in NYC. One might ask why his day was connected to Norway's history and not Iceland´s. Surely, we could have come up with someday of Iceland´s history to connect the two. The Norwegians like to think of Leifur as Norse as his father, Erik the Red, is from Norway. Icelanders think of him as Icelandic as he was born in Iceland. The Americans in this case clearly sided with the Norwegians. A misunderstanding or maybe lack of thought but for now the Icelanders are just happy that Leifur is on the calendar and honored. The United States Congress, by joint resolution (Public Law 88-566) approved on September 2, 1964, to authorize the President of the United States to proclaim October 9th of each year as “Leif Erikson Day.” Read the 2021 letter of recognition HERE.
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