Iceland

Iceland safeguards a remarkably preserved Norse language, saga literature and crafts adapted to a volcanic, treeless land.

Language & oral Music & dance Textile & dress Building & habitat

Knowledge in this place

Icelandic language

Icelandic language

A North Germanic tongue so conservative that speakers can still read the medieval sagas, actively cultivated through word-coining.

Language & oral

Rimur epic chanting

Rimur epic chanting

The traditional chanting of rimur, rhymed narrative verse performed in a distinctive declamatory style.

Lopapeysa wool knitting

Lopapeysa wool knitting

Knitting the yoke-patterned sweater from Icelandic sheep wool, a craft revived in the twentieth century.

Textile & dress

Turf house building

Turf house building

Building insulated dwellings of layered turf, stone and driftwood, adapted to a land without timber.

Building & habitat