Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord which meets the waters of the larger fjord

Ísafjarðardjúp Ísafjarðardjúp () is a large fjord in the Westfjords region of Iceland. Its name translates to ''Depth of the fjord of sea ice''. Ísafjörður, capital of the Westfjords region, is situated close to the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in Skutul ...

. With a population of about 2,600, Ísafjörður is the largest settlement in the peninsula of Vestfirðir (

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

) and the administration centre of the Ísafjarðarbær municipality, which includes—besides Ísafjörður—the nearby villages of

Hnífsdalur Hnífsdalur () is a small village in the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær, located between Bolungarvík and Ísafjörður. The literal meaning of the name is "Knife's Valley". Some guess that the thin or sharp line of the mountain range resembles t ...

, Flateyri, Suðureyri, and Þingeyri.

History

According to the

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and over ...

(the book of settlement), Skutulsfjörður was first settled by Helgi Magri Hrólfsson in the 9th century. In the 16th century, the town grew as it became a trading post for foreign merchants. Witch trials were common around the same time throughout the Westfjords, and many people were banished to the nearby peninsula of

Hornstrandir Hornstrandir () is Iceland's northernmost peninsula, covering at the northern end of the Westfjords, to the north of the Jökulfirðir and to the northwest of Drangajökull glacier. Ecosystem The area covers of tundra, fjord, glacier and alpin ...

, now a national nature reserve. The town of Ísafjörður was granted municipal status in 1786. The former Danish trading post ''Neðstikaupstaður'', established in the 18th century, contains the oldest collection of timber frame houses in Iceland. These include ''Krambúð'' (1757), ''Faktorshús'' (1765), now the Danish consulate, ''Tjöruhúsið'' (1781), now a restaurant, and the site of the

Westfjords Heritage Museum The Westfjords Heritage Museum ( is, Byggðasafn Vestfjarða ) is a museum in Ísafjörður in the Westfjords of Iceland. The museum is based on maritime heritage and gives an insight into the local Westfjords fisheries and fishing industry as wel ...

''Turnhúsið'' (1784).

Geography and climate

The Westfjords are known to be the coolest area in Iceland at sea level. Ísafjörður has a tundra climate (Köppen climate classification: ET), closely bordering on either a dry-summer

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

(Köppen climate classification: Dsc) or a

cold-summer mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

(Köppen climate classification: Csc), depending on using the or the isotherm. The climate is characterised by cold winters and cool summers. The warmest month is July with the mean temperature of ; the wettest is November with of precipitation. The climate has significantly warmed in recent years due to the effects of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. As the rest of Iceland, Ísafjörður experiences high winds and very few clear days throughout the year.

Overview

The town is connected by road and a road tunnel to Bolungarvík which lies to the northwest, and to the village of Súðavík to the east. The partly one-lane Vestfjarðagöng (Vestfirðir Tunnel), completed in 1996, leads to the towns of Flateyri and Suðureyri, and to the western parts of the Westfjords. Ísafjörður has an airport with regular flights to Reykjavík. Fishing has been the main industry in Ísafjörður, and the town has one of the largest fisheries in Iceland. A severe decline in the fishing industry for a variety of reasons, such as fishing restrictions in the early 1980s, and a decline in the fish population, has led the inhabitants to seek work elsewhere, leading to a decline in the town's population. The harbor also serves ferries to nearby settlements as well as larger cruise ships for tourists visiting the area. The tourist industry is growing; it is a major access point to the nature reserve on the

Peninsula, an uninhabited wilderness area to which ferries run weekly during summer. Despite its size, small population, and historical isolation from the rest of the country, the town has a relatively urban atmosphere. Ísafjörður has a school of music, as well as a hospital. The older former hospital building now accommodates a cultural center with a library and showrooms. Recently, the small town has become known in the country as a center for alternative music outside of Iceland. A yearly festival,

Aldrei fór ég suður Aldrei fór ég suður () is an annual music festival held in Ísafjörður, Iceland, every Easter weekend since 2004. It is the brainchild of Mugison and his father, Guðmundur Kristjánsson, who came up with the idea after playing on a music fes ...

, provides a platform for local musicians and bands from around Iceland and even from overseas. A university center, Háskólasetur Vestfjarða, which acts as a distance learning center for the 7000 residents of the Westfjords, was established in March 2005.

Education

Ísafjörður is the home to the

University Centre of the Westfjords The University Centre of the Westfjords (Icelandic language, Icelandic: Háskólasetur Vestfjarða) is a higher education institute located in Ísafjörður, Iceland. It offers integrated master's programmes in Coastal and Marine Management, Marine ...

. The University Centre offers four master's degree programs: Coastal & Marine Management, Icelandic language, Coastal Communities and Regional Development, and Marine Innovation. Students graduate from the

University of Akureyri The University of Akureyri ( is, Háskólinn á Akureyri , regionally also ) was founded in 1987 in the town of Akureyri in the northeastern part of Iceland. It is today a school of health sciences, humanities and social science, and a school of b ...

. The only gymnasium located in the Westfjords,

Menntaskólinn á Ísafirði Menntaskólinn á Ísafirði is an Icelandic Gymnasium (school), gymnasium. It is located in Ísafjörður in the Westfjords. The school year consists of two semesters, fall and spring. Each semester students take a full-time load of courses wort ...

, is in Ísafjörður. The students range from 16 to 20 years of age, as is traditional in Icelandic gymnasia.

Business

Major employers in the region include Arctic Fish, Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör, Íslandssaga, Klofningur, Orkubú Vestfjarða and Skaginn 3X. Ísafjörður is also the base of several noteworthy start-up companies including Fossadalur and Kerecis.

Culture

The town hosts varied and widely popular events, in the realms of both culture and outdoor recreation. These events include, but are not limited to: *The Ski Week Festival * Aldrei fór ég suður music festival *

Fossavatnsgangan Fossavatnsgangan is an annual ski marathon held in Ísafjörður, in the Westfjords of Iceland. The event has been a part of Worldloppet since 2014. It is the oldest ski race in Iceland, held since 1935. Although it was cancelled several times in ...

cross country skiing competition *European Swampsoccer Championships *Act Alone – a theatre festival dedicated to the art of acting alone, monodrama, held in August every year *

Annual music festivals

Aldrei fór ég suður – Ísafjörður Rock Festival In 2002, Ísafjörður's own

Mugison Örn Elías Guðmundsson, known professionally as Mugison (born 4 September 1976), is an Icelandic musician. Early life In 1977, Guðmundsson and his family moved from Reykjavík to Ísafjörður. In 1982, his family moved from Iceland to C ...

(a.k.a. Örn Elías Guðmundsson) and his father organized the first

Music Festival as a free concert to support the burgeoning music community in Ísafjörður. The event has been established as an annual festival in mid April. The name ''Aldrei fór ég suður'' (I never went south) is taken from a Bubbi Morthens song of the same name, and may refer to a movement among young Icelanders to establish cultural events outside Reykjavík, and draw attention back to the nation's roots in the countryside. The festival's subtitle is "''rokkhátið alþýðunnar''" or "rock festival for the people." Við Djúpið Music Festival From 2001 through 2014, the

Við Djúpið Við Djúpið () was an annual music festival and a series of summer courses held in the Westfjords of Iceland around summer solstice. The event offered a series of concerts and master classes. The festival offered master classes and concerts ...

Music Festival offered master classes and concerts with nationwide and worldwide known artists, such as Erling Blöndal Bengtsson, cellist and Vovka Ashkenazy, pianist as well as the

Pacifica Quartet The Pacifica Quartet is a professional string quartet based in Bloomington, Indiana. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Austin Hartman, second violin; Mark Holloway, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello. Formed in 1994 by Ganatra and Vamos wi ...

, Evan Ziporyn, clarinetist, composer, and a member of the band

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the cou ...

gave a master class and concert in Ísafjörður during Við Djúpið 2007 and among performers at the 2008 festival where Pekka Kuusisto, violinist with Simon Crawford-Phillips, pianist and Håkon Austbø, pianist.

Sports

Ísafjörður is the home of

Íþróttafélagið Vestri Íþróttafélagið Vestri, known as Vestri, is an Icelandic multi-sports club based in northern Westfjords. The club was formed in 2016 from the merger of KFÍ (basketball), Skellur (volleyball), Sundfélagið Vestri (swim) and BÍ/Bolungarvík ...

and

Knattspyrnufélagið Hörður Knattspyrnufélagið Hörður, commonly known as Hörður or Hörður Ísafjörður, is an Icelandic multi-sport club from the town of Ísafjörður. It was founded in 1919 as a football club but since 1933 it has fielded other departments, most p ...

multi-sports clubs. Vestri fields departments in basketball,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, volleyball and bicycling. Its men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

basketball teams have played in the top-tier basketball leagues in the country while its men's volleyball team was promoted to the top-tier division in 2019.

was originally a football club but has fielded other departments, most prominently in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

, track & field, skiing and

Icelandic wrestling Glima is the name that covers several types of Nordic folk wrestling practiced as sport and combat. In one common form of glima, players grip their opponent by the waist and attempt to throw them to the ground using technique rather than force. O ...

Other sport clubs

*Skíðafélag Ísfirðinga - Skiing *Golfklúbbur Ísafjarðar - Golf *Skotíþróttafélag Ísafjarðar -

Shooting sports Shooting sports is a group of competitive sport, competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airgun ...

Notable natives and residents

* Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson – President of Iceland (1996–2016) *

Agnes M. Sigurðardóttir Agnes Margrétardóttir Sigurðardóttir (born 19 October 1954) is an Icelandic prelate who is the current Bishop of Iceland. She is the first woman to be elected a Bishop of the Church of Iceland. Biography Agnes was born in Ísafjörður. S ...

–

Bishop of Iceland The following is a list of Lutheran bishops of Iceland. List See also *List of Skálholt bishops *List of Hólar bishops A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * ...

(since 2012)

Artists

Helgi Björnsson Helgi Björnsson (born 10 July 1958), often referred to as Helgi Björns, is an Icelandic actor and pop/rock musician. He has released several albums with his own band Helgi Björns Og Reiðmenn Vindanna. He was also a lead vocalist for the Icela ...

–

Musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and actor *

–

Árný Margrét Árný Margrét Sævarsdóttir (born 2001) is an Icelandic musician. In 2021, she published her first single, ''Interwined''. In January 2022, she debuted her second single, ''Akureyri''. In October 2022, her first album, ''They Only Talk About the ...

– Musician

Athletes

Basketball

Birgir Örn Birgisson Birgir Örn Birgisson (born 6 October 1969) is an Icelanders, Icelandic basketball coach and a former professional player who played 26 games for the Iceland men's national basketball team, Icelandic national basketball team. He won two Úrvals ...

– Former

Icelandic national basketball team The Iceland men's national basketball team ( is, Íslenska karlalandsliðið í körfubolta) represents Iceland in international basketball tournaments. The team is controlled by the Icelandic Basketball Association. Iceland has qualified for t ...

player * Sigurður Þorsteinsson –

player

Cycling

Arna Sigríður Albertsdóttir Arna Sigríður Albertsdóttir (born 8 June 1990) is an Icelandic handcyclist. Formerly a multi-sport athlete, she took up handcycling after being paralyzed in a skiing accident in 2006. In 2015, she became the first Icelandic athlete to compete ...

–

para-cyclist Para-cycling (or Paracycling) is the sport of cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disabilities. It is governed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include road and track races. T ...

who competed at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

Football

Stella Hjaltadóttir Stella Hjaltadóttir (born 23 June 1967) is an Icelanders, Icelandic cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier and former Association football, football player. Cross country skiing Stella won a national championship in cross-country sk ...

– former member of the Icelandic women's national football team *

Björn Helgason Björn Helgason (born 24 September 1935) is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He is a former member of the Icelandic men's national football team. International career After key performances for ÍBÍ, Bj� ...

– former member of the Icelandic men's national football team *

Jón Oddsson Jón Halldór Oddsson (born 25 January 1958) is an Icelandic former multi-sport athlete. He was a member of both the Icelandic men's national football team and the Icelandic track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athlet ...

– former member of the Icelandic men's national football team and the Icelandic track and field national team. *

Emil Pálsson Emil Pálsson (born 10 June 1993) is an Icelandic former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in his native Iceland from 2008 to 2017 and was named the Úrvalsdeild Player of the Year in 2015. He later played several s ...

– caps for the Icelandic men's national football team *

Ómar Torfason Ómar Torfason (born 1 February 1959) is an Icelandic former professional footballer. He was part of the Iceland national football team, Icelandic men's national football team between 1981 and 1989. He played 39 matches, scoring 1 goal. He won th ...

– former member of the Icelandic men's national football team *

Matthías Vilhjálmsson Matthías Vilhjálmsson (born 30 January 1987) is an Icelandic international footballer who plays as a striker for the Úrvalsdeild club Víkingur. He can as well play as a midfielder. He also played for the Icelandic national football team ...

– caps for the Icelandic men's national football team

Skiing

Arnór Gunnarsson Arnór Gunnarsson (born 25 April 1971) is an Icelandic alpine skier. He competed in the men's slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), w ...

– former Olympic skier *

Ásta Halldórsdóttir Ásta Halldórsdóttir (born 27 November 1970) is an Icelandic alpine skier. She competed at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1994 Winter Olympics. In both Albertville and Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, No ...

– former Olympic skier *

Daníel Jakobsson Daníel Jakobsson (born August 17, 1973) is an Icelandic former cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier and politician. He competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics in 15–50 km events and placed 44–65. During his career, he won seve ...

– former Olympic skier *

Steinþór Jakobsson Steinþór Jakobsson (7 November 1931 – 19 March 1996) was an Icelandic alpine skier. He competed in the men's giant slalom at the 1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, ...

– former Olympic skier *

Guðmundur Jóhannsson Guðmundur Jóhannsson (born 19 February 1963) is an Icelandic Alpine skiing, alpine skier. He competed in Alpine skiing at the 1984 Winter Olympics, two events at the 1984 Winter Olympics. References

1963 births Living people Iceland ...

– former Olympic skier * Sigurður Jónsson – former Olympic skier * Einar Valur Kristjánsson – former Olympic skier * Einar Ólafsson – former Olympic skier *

Gunnar Pétursson Gunnar Pétursson (31 March 1930 – 4 May 2022) was an Icelandic cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier who competed in the 1950s. He finished 32nd in the 18 km event at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo where he was one of five ...

– former Olympic skier *

Oddur Pétursson Oddur Pétursson (2 July 1931 – 24 May 2018) was an Icelandic cross-country skier. He competed at the 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics in 15–30 km events and placed 48–61. Personal life Oddur was the brother of cross country skier G ...

– former Olympic skier * Árni Sigurðsson – former Olympic skier

References

External links

Town of ÍsafjörðurAldrei fór ég suður Rock Festival
(in Icelandic and English)
More information and photos about Ísafjörður on Hit IcelandVið Djúpið Music FestivalFossavatn Ski Marathon
(in Icelandic, English, French, German, and Norwegian)
Isafjordur Photo CollectionHáskólasetur Vestfjarða
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isafjordur Populated places in Westfjords Populated places established in the 9th century