Himinbjörg

In Norse mythology, Himinbjörg (Old Norse "heaven's castle" or "heaven mountain") is the home of the god Heimdallr. Himinbjörg is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, both written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Himinbjörg is associated with Heimdallr in all sources. According to the Poetic Edda, Heimdallr dwells there as watchman for the gods and there drinks fine mead, whereas in the Prose Edda Himinbjörg is detailed as located where the burning rainbow bridge Bifröst meets heaven. Scholars have commented on the differences between the two attestations and linked the name of the mythical location to various place names.

Himinbjörg receives a single mention in the Poetic Edda. In the poem Grímnismál, Odin (disguised as Grímnir), tortured, starved and thirsty, tells the young Agnar of a number of mythological locations. The eighth location he mentions is Himinbjörg, where he says Heimdallr drinks fine mead:

Benjamin Thorpe translation:

Henry Adams Bellows translation:

Regarding the above stanza, Henry Adams Bellows comments that "in stanza the two functions of Heimdall—as father of mankind [ . . . ] and as warder of the gods—seem both to be mentioned, but the second line in the manuscripts is apparently in bad shape, and in the editions it is more or less conjecture".

In the Prose Edda, Himinbjörg is mentioned twice, both times in the book Gylfaginning. The first mention is found in chapter 27, where the enthroned figure of High informs Gangleri that Himinbjörg stands where the burning bridge Bifröst meets heaven. Later, in chapter 27, High says that Heimdallr lives in Himinbjörg by Bifröst and there guards the bridge from mountain jotnar while sitting at the edge of heaven. The above-mentioned Grímnismál stanza is quoted shortly thereafter.

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