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A few minutes' walk north from the Nordic House, on Frikirkjuvegur , which runs along the eastern side of Tjornin, is the Frikirkjan , the Free Lutheran Church, a simple wooden structure painted bright white, whose best feature is its tall tower, useful as a landmark to guide you to the neighbouring Ishusid (Ice House) at Frikirkjuvegur 7. Once a storage place for the massive chunks of ice, hewn in winter from the frozen lake and used to prevent fish stocks rotting, the building has been completely redesigned and enlarged and now houses the National Art Gallery (Tues-Sun 11am-5pm; 400kr, free on Wed). Icelandic art may lack worldwide recognition, but all the significant names are to be found here, including Erro, Jon Stefansson, Asgrimur Jonsson, Gudmundur porsteinsson and Einar Hakonarson - though disappointingly, lack of space means that the paintings can only be shown in strictly rationed portions from the museum's enormous stock of around 5000 works of art. You can, however, get an idea of the paintings not on display by glancing through the postcards for sale at reception. Drop in, but expect to leave with your artistic appetite no more than whetted; also, note that on entry you have to leave your coat and bag in the lockers provided. A walk from here back towards Laekjartorg leads on to Laekjargata (effectively a continuation of Frikirkjuvegur), which once marked the eastern boundary of the town; Tjornin once emptied into the sea through the small brook ( laekur is Icelandic for "brook") here, which now runs under the road. The cluster of old timber buildings up on the small hill parallel to the street is known as Bernhoftstorfan and, following extensive renovation, they now house a couple of chi-chi fish restaurants and the tourist office , with its official entrance round the corner in Bankastraeti. They're flanked by two of Iceland's most important buildings: the old Reykjavik Grammar School, built in 1844, which once had to be accessed by a bridge over the brook, and housed the Alping before the completion of the current Alpingshusid in nearby Austurvollur square ; and a small unobtrusive white building at the bottom of Bankastraeti, which is, in fact, Government House (Stjornarradid), another of Iceland's very parochial-looking public offices. One of the oldest surviving buildings in the city, built in 1761-71 as a prison, it now houses the offices of the Prime Minister. Up on Arnaholl , the grassy mound behind the building, a statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, Reykjavik's first settler, surveys his domain; with his back turned on the National Theatre, and the government ministries to his right, he looks out to the ocean that brought him here over eleven centuries ago.
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