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Not far from Harpa, located by the water on a small headland you can find the sculpture Sun Voyager. It is a popular spot for photographers in the capital. Depending on the perspective you can take a picture of it with Harpa or mount Esja.
The sculpture was unveiled on August 18th 1990 the birthday of the city. The competition for a new sculpture which this project won was held in 1986 commemorating the 200th birthday of the city.
The impression people get when seeing it can vary a lot. Some people see it as a viking ship which is of course influenced by the viking heritage in Iceland. Another opinion is that it is an abstraction of a fish skeleton.
As intended by artist Jón Gunnar Arnason it is a dream boat, an ode to the sun. The Sun Voyager should therefore represent the dream of hope, progress and freedom as well as undiscovered territory.
Since the voyage heads to the sun the sculpture was initially intended to be installed heading west. After a few other spots in Reykjavik had been considered the statue was installed heading North. The reason is that this location by the water underlined the aspect of sailing and travelling more then other locations not located by the water.
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