Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

18th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
Búðakirkja

I have always been fascinated by churches and cemeteries. I think they're so beautiful. While traveling around Iceland, we read about this black church on a lava field in Búðir, so naturally we had to check it out. It definitely did not disappoint. The original church dates back to the early 1700s. The bell and chalice are from that time, but what stands now was rebuilt due to the determination of one woman in the mid 1800s without the help or funding of the Lutheran church. She had a door latch at the back of the church engraved stating that it had been rebuilt without the help of the holy fathers.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 06.2019
Date Uploaded: 11.2020
Photo Location: Búðir, Iceland
Copyright: © Ashley Reherman