Skálholt cathedral in southern Iceland

The ancient seat of the Icelandic bishops, Skalholt, was the centre of ecclesiastic- and worldly power, culture, and education for centuries. The first of 32 catholic bishops took his seat there in 1056 and in the wake of the reformation in 1540 13 Lutheran bishops sat there until 1801, when the seat was moved to the capital. The country became one see again in 1798. The northern see was established in 1106.