Everything to Eternity
Garðar cemetery is at the epicenter of Garðar, a strip of land on the western seaboard of the Álftanes peninsula.
The church was built in 1897 and is the most significant building on the site. Everything to Eternity is a continuation of the work commissioned in 2007 by Jón Pálmasson and Elisabet Bjórnsdóttir following the tragic, untimely passing of Guðrún, their eldest daughter.
The early studies investigated the discrepancy of thought between archeologists who had recorded the extensive medieval remains in Garðar, the town’s policy makers and the master planners of new districts. The subsequent White Book manifesto collated conclusions and painted a future vision for the area that has led to the conservation of Garðar in it’s entirety.
Drystone walls once crisscrossed the area and the project draws on this heritage to define the western boundary of the Garðar cemetery. The wall is a ha-ha preserving the infinite view from the church to the ocean while passively managing the grazing flock below. In the pastureland a freshwater spring emerges from below a massive basalt boulder. This is Garðarlind, the only spring in the area that never froze, a salvation for the ancient inhabitants of Garðar. A stone path leads from the cemetery via a cleft in the drystonewall and through a steel gate to this fountain of life.
Upon opening the gate one’s hand may inadvertently rest upon the inscription Allt til Eilífðar (Everything to Eternity) and sunlight will play upon perforations that map the position of the polestar so we may see from where in the cosmic firmament we have come.
