Walking through the city, you can hardly miss this magnificent building that now houses the Prime Minister's office. But did you know that these walls once enclosed Iceland's first prison?
It's hard to imagine, but the foundations for this building were laid in a 1733 letter. With the pardon of Katrín Ingjaldsdóttir and others, it became clear that Iceland needed its own facility for incarceration rather than sending prisoners to Denmark. Following a royal decree in 1759, construction of the prison finally began in 1761. In an interesting twist of fate, it was the convicts themselves who served their sentences by working on the construction.
When the prison was completed in 1770/71, it was funded by a controversial property and incarceration tax that didn't exactly win the hearts of Icelanders. The dungeon served its original purpose until 1816, when it finally closed its doors.
However, the building experienced a resurgence in the 20th century. In 1904 it became the headquarters of the first Icelandic ministry and eventually became the Cabinet Office in 1918. This venerable building has since housed the highest offices of the Icelandic government, including the President's Office from 1973 to 1996.