The first celebration took place in the form of an open seminar in the Snorrestofa cultural and medieval centre in Reykaholt. This is a place with strong ties to Norwegian history, and the combined museum and science centre has been visited by no less than four generations of Norwegian royals: King Olav, King Harald, Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Ingrid Alexandra.

A common Norse tradition

Althing President, Einar K. Guðfinnsson and President of the Storting Olemic Thommessen both gave speeches at the open seminar. In his speech, the President of the Storting emphasized the long lines of development of  Norwegian democracy and that a common Norse thing tradition existed long before 1814. In its time the Gulating served as a model for the establishment of the legislative assemblies of Iceland – the Icelandic Althing in year 930. Today the Althing is considered the world's oldest functioning parliament.

"Through the Gulating arrangement a meeting place was established where delegates could meet annually. One could say that this is where the principle of representation was implemented in the Norwegian and the Nordic tradition" the President of the Storting said in his speech.

The sagas and nation building

Thommesen also stressed the great importance of the Icelandic saga authors to Norway.

"Our country has benefited from Snorri's outstanding works of Norway’s oldest history, and his name will forever be associated with Norway. Using Snorri's sagas, historians throughout the 1800s were able to create a bridge between the old kingdom and the new Norwegian state after 1814. Icelandic historical work about Norway has thus played a key role in our nation building."

Professor Jon Gunnar Jørgensen (University of Oslo) elaborated on this in the lecture "Inspiration from the sagas at Eidsvold in 1814."

Gift from Trondheim

During the seminar a carved replica of the tombstone of Duke Skule from Nidaros Cathedral was presented to the Snorre Institute at Reykholt as a gift from Norway. Duke Skule and Snorri were close friends and allies, which probably contributed to Snorre being killed in his home on Reykholt by order of the Norwegian king Haakon Haakonsson.

Sturla Tordsson’s 800th anniversary

On Sunday 27th July the President of the Storting attended the commemoration of the 800th anniversary of Snorri's nephew, saga author Sturla Tordsson. The great interest in the Sagas on Iceland was highlighted by the high turnout:  The Assembly Hall in the small hamlet of Saurbær was packed to the rafters as the President of the Storting proceeded to give a speech.

In Norway, Sturla Tordsson is best known for having written the saga of King Haakon Haakonsen. This is the period when the kingdom of Norway had the greatest geographical extent and both Iceland and Greenland were under the Norwegian crown. Thommessen stressed the importance of Sturla having continued Snorri’s work with sagas about Håkon Håkonsson and Magnus Lagabøte and the important role this knowledge had played for Norwegian nation building.

Meetings with key Icelandic politicians

The President also took the opportunitiy to meet the Althing President Einar K. Guðfinnsson, the icelandic Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson and Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson during his stay. The main topics of discussion during these meetings were Nordic cooperation and relations with the EU. Both parties emphasized the need and the will to continue the close cooperation between Iceland and Norway.