Skip to content

amazingiceland.is

Your adventure guide to Iceland

Menu
  • Activities
    • Air
      • Flying
      • Hang glide
      • Helicopter ride
      • Sky dive
      • Zip line
    • Animals
      • Dog sledding
      • Farm visit
      • Horse bak riding
      • Whale watching
    • Fire
      • ATV ride
      • Buggy ride
      • Self drive
      • Snowmobile
      • Super jeep
    • Ice-snow
      • Glacier hike
      • Heli Skiing
      • Ice caving
      • Ice climbing
      • Skiing
    • Museum
      • Virtual reality
    • Nature
      • Bike ride
      • Caving
      • Climbing
      • Hiking
      • Northern lights tour
      • Yoga
    • Water
      • Beer Spa
      • Diving
      • Kayak
      • Nature bath
      • Rib boat
      • River rafting
      • Sailing
      • Snorkeling
      • Surfing
      • Swimming
  • Day tours
    • Large group
      • View all
    • Medium group
      • View all
    • Private tours
      • Golden Circle Private Tour
      • Highlights of the North
      • Landmannalaugar Super Jeep
      • Photo infused Golden circle
      • Photo infused Landmannalaugar
      • Photo infused Reykjanes
      • Photo infused Snæfellsnes peninsula
      • Photo infused South coast
      • Private ice and fire jeep tour
      • View all
    • recommended day tour
      • Golden Circle Private Tour
      • Landmannalaugar Super Jeep
      • View all
    • Self drive day tour
      • Eyjafjallajökull & Þórsmörk
      • Ice Cave Adventure
      • Reykjanes & Blue Lagoon
      • Unusual Golden Circle
      • View all
    • Small group
      • Eyjafjallajökull & Þórsmörk
      • Ice Cave Adventure
      • Reykjanes & Blue Lagoon
      • Unusual Golden Circle
      • View all
  • Destinations
    • South east Iceland
      • Glacier lagoon
    • South Iceland
      • Golden Circle
      • South coast
    • West Iceland
      • Borgarfjordur Iceland
      • Snæfellsnes Iceland
  • Contact
  • About
Búðir area in Snæfellsnes Iceland

Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes

“..rebuilt with out the assistance of the holy fathers..”

Búðahraun lavafield with its rounded crater Búðarklettur creates an interesting setting for the black church at Budir and the fine Hotel Budir situated in Budavik.
Originally the main function of Búðir was that to act as a commercial and trade hub for Snæfellsnes and the surrounding west coast region, during an extended period of Danish trade monopoly. Today the small hamlet of Búðir along with Hótel Búðir is a center of attraction in Snæfellsnes for tourists and various tourism activities.

Búðahraun lava field

The lava field is known for its beauty in its roughness and the diversity of plant life. The surrounding mountains cater for a spectacular view as one hikes through the field on old paths that hooves of horses have marked into the lava as they carried heavy load of fish to be exported from Frambúðir, the original Budir that gave the name to this area. The community moved to current location after a very destructive sea-flood in 1799 called Básendaflóð. In Budahraun you can find amongst other plants Leptosporangiate ferns (Pteridopsida)

Even though there are no apparent signs seen on the coast line that  indicate the lava of Budahraun having flowed into the ocean, it is most likely that it flowed in an eruption dating 5000 – 8000 years back.

Black Church in Budir

All that remains of Budir’s former community is the black wooden church Búðakirkja.  Bent Lauridtsen retained a bishop’s permit from Jón Vídalín in 1701 to build a church in the area but decision on where it would stand was difficult to make. According to local tail, an elderly woman suggested that a man would spin in circles until he became dazed and confused upon which he then would shoot three arrows into the air and should one of them be specially marked. Where ever the marked arrow would land, that would be the place where the church should be built.

A small turf chapel was built in 1703, where it stood until it was dismissed by orders of the Danish King Christian VIII in 1816. Several residents fought for the reclamation of the church but it was not until in 1847 and issued at that the priest’s council in Reykjavik in 1949 that allowed for the construction of a new house of worship—as long as the residents of Budir would fully finance the project and see to its maintenance.

A man named Guðmundur tried for a long time to get the church re inaugurated and after his death, his widow, a woman named Steinunn had meticulously cared for the artefacts from the old chapel, which resulted in the church still donning some of its original items, such a door latch engraved by Bent in 1703. She had the door latched engraved on the back that this church was re inaugurated and rebuilt with out the assistance of the holy fathers. Renovations were made in 1951, and again in 1984 – 1986 when it got slightly relocated and reconstructed according to its original Danish design. The last renovation of the church was made in 2010 and it is now periodically maintained and stands proud for all the visitors that come each year.

Hotel Budir

Hotel Budir ( hótel Búðir in Icelandic) is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful countryside hotels in Iceland, just a short drive from Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavík. The hotel sits in a lava field on the westernmost tip of the Snæfellsnes peninsula, in the western region of Iceland.

Due to the hotel´s location, guests have an impressive view of the breathtaking Snæfellsjökull glacier and the Budir-estuary which meanders into the vast Faxafloi-Bay where a number of seals reside.

flower field in front of Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
flower field in front of Black church at Budir
Cross in front black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Cross in front black church at Budir
Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Black church at Budir
Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Black church at Budir
Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Black church at Budir
Hotel budir in Snæfellsnes west Iceland
Hotel Budir
Búðir area in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Búðir in Snæfellsnes
Cairn in Budir lava field in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Cairn in Budir lava field
Plants in Búðarhraun
Plants in Búðarhraun
Búðarklettur hill in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Búðarklettur in Snæfellsnes
Mt Öxl and búðarhraun lava field in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Mt Öxl and búðarhraun
View over Búðahraun and in Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland
View over Búðahraun and Snæfellsnes
Rock Ptarmigan in a lava field on Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland
Rock Ptarmigan in Snæfellsnes
Young of a Rock Ptarmigan in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Young of a Rock Ptarmigan in Snæfellsnes
Cairn in Budir lava field in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Cairn in Budir lava field
Black church at Budir in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Black church at Budir
Snæfellsjökull glacier and Budir lava field in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Snæfellsjökull and Budir lava field
Budavik bay and Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland
Budavik bay and Snæfellsnes peninsula
Summer house in Budavik bay in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Summer house in Budavik bay
Old path through Budahraun lava field in Snæfellsnes Iceland
Old path through Budahraun lava field
Winter at Black church in Budir Snæfellsnes Iceland
Winter at Black church in Budir
Previous
Next

Originally the main function of Búðir was that to act as a commercial and trade hub for Snæfellsnes and the surrounding west coast region, during an extended period of Danish trade monopoly.

Recommended reading:
liecence
(c) Amazing iceland travel ehf 
Melgerði 36
 200 Kopavogur
 Iceland tel:+3548999109 
Kt:5612161500 
vsk:126693 travel@amazingiceland.is