Reykjavík in 1834, looking northeast across Kollafjörður toward Mount Esja. The large building with the tower is Reykjavík Cathedral (which still stands today). The building to its right, with two chimneys, was originally built and used as a prison. When this picture was made, it was serving as the home of the Governor of Iceland; today it houses the offices of the Prime Minister. The tall building flying the Danish flag, just to the left of the more distant of the two large sailing ships, is Magistrate's House (Landsfógetahús), which was — during the last two years (1830-2) of Jónas's first period of residence in Reykjavík — the residence and office of R. C. Ulstrup, for whom Jónas served as secretary and in whose house he lived.

The large ship in the center of the picture is the Danish man-of-war Dronning Marie, aboard which Crown Prince Frederik (who would one day reign as Frederik VII) visited Iceland in the summer of 1834.

The body of water in the foreground, "The Pond" (Tjörnin), was in prehistoric times the head of a small fjord. Today it is a lagoon, its former mouth closed by the 15-20 meter thick gravel spit on which downtown Reykjavík is built.

In the left foreground is an Icelandic family in ordinary daily dress and a packhorse loaded with dried fish. The population of Reykjavík in 1833 was 578 persons.

Lithograph by I. W. Vos from a sketch by Frederik Theodor Kloss (1802-76), a Danish artist of German origin who accompanied Prince Frederik to Iceland in 1834. The copy reproduced here, hand-colored by Kloss for presentation to the prince (see Ínö52), is currently in the National Library of Iceland (Landsbókasafn Íslands).

Source: Prospecter af Island malede efter Naturen, paa den, i Fölge med Hans Kongelige Höihed, Prinds til Danmark Frederik Carl Christian's Sommeren 1834 foretagne Reise, lithographeret udgivne af Frederik Theodor Kloss Marinemaler (Kiøbenhavn, 1835).