Synchronized Swimming in Sundhöll Reykjavíkur (The Reykjavík Swim Basin) 1948-55. Photographed by Pétur Thomsen.
Iceland and Reykjavík in particular have countless swimming pools. Sundhöllin is however special. It was built in the 1930’s after a design by Iceland’s first successful architect, Guðjón Samúelsson, who also designed Hallgrímskirkja. It was Reykjavík’s first proper swimming pool and is still to this day the only one with a decent jumping board. If you want to learn your way around Iceland’s politics, most major political decisions are taken in the pools jacuzzis or steam room.
