Hólar

Hólar lies in Hjaltadalur in northern Iceland, a small settlement that was for centuries one of the island's chief religious and educational centers. Founded as a bishop's seat in 1106 under Jón Ögmundsson, it served the north while Skálholt served the south. Its bishops took part in the island's political struggles as well as its spiritual life. During the Reformation Hólar became the last stronghold of Catholic resistance in Iceland. Its bishop Jón Arason was captured and executed with his two sons at Skálholt in 1550. Lutheran bishops subsequently held the see, among them Guðbrandur Þorláksson. The church at Hólar was rebuilt in the eighteenth century, its stone walls completed in 1763.