Kópavogur is historically significant as the site of the 1662 Kópavogur meeting. This event marked the total incorporation of Iceland into Denmark-Norway as bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson and lawyer Árni Oddsson on behalf of the Icelandic people signed a document confirming that the introduction of absolute monarchy by the King also applied to Iceland. An independent township, Kópavogur is adjacent to Reykjavík.
The modern dome of Kópavogur Church–the town’s emblem–dominates the skyline to the south of Reykjavík. On the same hilltop is Gerðarsafn, Kópavogur Art Museum, an elegant, spacious museum built in 1985 to show the works of modern sculpture pioneer and glass artist Gerður Helgadóttir, who made the stained glass windows for the church. Another collection in the museum features works by painter/sculptor Magnús Árnason and his English-born wife Barbara, an illustrator and graphics artist. Selected exhibitions from these collections are arranged at intervals, but the museum’s main activity is exhibitions by modern Icelandic artists, held approximately every month. Also on the hilltop site is the new complex Kópavogur Cultural Center. It houses among other things Iceland‘s first and only custom built concert hall, Salurinn, Kópavogur Concert Hall, which opened in 1999. Regular concerts and recitals are held at the center, featuring both celebrated Icelandic performers and visiting international musicians.
One of Iceland‘s finest collections of mollusks and crustaceans are on display at the natural Science Center in Kópavogur‘s town center. The Cultural Center also houses impressive collections of rocks and birds, and has four tanks with live fish and marine life.
Athletic facilities are amongst the best in the country. A new open-air geothermal heated swimming pool, the largest in Iceland, is among the many excellent sports and leisure facilities in Kópavogur, which also can boast of the biggest indoor tennis
