Bíóhúsið

Nýja Bíó was one of the foundational cinemas of Reykjavík and one of the most important movie houses in early Icelandic film culture. The company was formed in 1912 and initially presented films in Hótel Ísland. Its arrival was significant enough that Reykjavík’s older cinema, Reykjavíkur Biograftheater, gradually became known as Gamla Bíó, or “Old Cinema,“ in distinction from the newcomer.

Construction of a permanent home for Nýja Bíó began in 1919 on a rear lot at Austurstræti 22b, close to the corner of Austurstræti and Lækjargata in the heart of Reykjavík. The new cinema opened in 1920. Designed by architect Finnur Thorlacius, it was the first building in Iceland constructed specifically as a motion-picture theatre and, with approximately 500 seats, was then the largest public assembly hall in the country.

The building was designed in a Jugendstil/Art Nouveau manner, with an unusually elaborate auditorium, balcony, chandeliers and ornamental interior. Its main entrance was from Austurstræti. A café occupied the upper floor and the Rosenberg restaurant was housed in the basement.

For decades Nýja Bíó and Gamla Bíó were Reykjavík’s two principal cinemas, and for many years they were the only two regular movie theatres in the capital. Nýja Bíó therefore belonged to the first generation of Icelanders for whom going to the movies became an ordinary part of city life.

The theatre was enlarged in 1945-1947, when an addition was built along Lækjargata and the auditorium was lengthened. Film exhibition eventually ceased before the end of the 1980’s, and in its later years the building housed entertainment venues including the nightclub Tunglið.

Nýja Bíó was badly damaged by fire in 1998 and subsequently demolished. The present building on the site dates from 2000. What disappeared was more than an old cinema. Nýja Bíó had stood at the center of Reykjavík’s moviegoing life from the silent era onward, helping establish cinema as a permanent part of Icelandic popular culture. For much of the 20th century, the words “Gamla Bíó” and “Nýja Bíó” — the Old Cinema and the New Cinema — effectively described Reykjavík’s cinematic geography.

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