Bilskirnir

Bilskírnir (Old Norse "bright-crack" (poetic)) is the hall of the god Thor or Þórr in Norse mythology. Here he lives with his wife Sif and their children. According to Grímnismál, the hall is the greatest of buildings ever made and located in Þrúðvangar In Grímnismál it states: "enn hǫll hans heitir Bilskírnir: í þeim sal eru fimm hundruð gólfa ok fjórir tigir" - (Five hundred floors and forty tens) NB "hundred" in Old Norse actually meant 120, as that was the basic counting system. Also 'gólfa' actually means floors not rooms. Therefore one translation would be that Bilskírnir has 640 floors.

Modern influence

• The hall inspired the name of an Asgard starship commanded by Supreme Commander Thor, in the television series Stargate SG-1 named Beliskner.
• There is a NSBM band from Hesse, Germany named Bilskirnir.

References

• Orchard, Andy (1997). Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-34520-2