Icelanders will soon be able to publicly worship at a shrine to Thor, Odin and Frigg with construction already started in February on the island's first major temple to the Norse gods since the Viking age. Worship of the gods in Scandinavia gave way to Christianity around 1,000 years ago but a modern version of Norse paganism has been gaining popularity in Iceland. ‘I don't think anyone believes in a one-eyed man who is riding about on a horse with eight feet,’ said Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, the high priest of 'Asatruarfelagid', an association that promotes faith in the Norse gods. ‘We see the stories as poetic metaphors and a manifestation of the forces of nature and human psychology’. There are approximately 2,400 members, out of a total population of 330,000. The temple will be circular and 13 feet down into a hill overlooking the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.