Ex cons in the windows of the old prison

If you walk past the old prison on Skólavörðurstígur 9 you can see pictures in the front windows of the building, of men who have been arrested and made to stayin the building, which was a prison for 144 years. The pictures are a part of the art exhibition "Ljós í steini" which is a series of 24 portraits.

"I was walking on Skólavörðurstígur and looking at this beautiful and impressive building. There were old newspapers covering the windows because of of construction in the building by Minjavernd (an association which repairs old houses and keeps the historically authentic). I noticed that the shape of the windows reminded me of church windows. Thousands of Icelanders have stayed in the prison since it was built in 1872, but these men who are now pictured in the windows are in some way representatives of all the people who have been detained in the prison," says Sverrir Sigurjón Björnsson, the artist behind the exhibition.

The art exhibition started on Culture Night in August and will be ongoing for a while. The artist says that while he was working on the exhibition he noticed that a lot of people were interested in the house and tried to open the door which was closed. The building ceased to be a prison in 2016, and is now being repaired.