Sandavágur () is a town on the south coast of the Faroese island of

Vágar Vágar (; ) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the ''large islands''. With a size of , it ranks third in size, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar Regions of the Faroe Islands, region also ...

. The name ''Sandavágur'' means ''sandy bay'' and refers to the sandy beach which used to be much larger than present. From one point in Sandavágur you can get a view of all the southern islands in the Faroes. Sandavágur used to be a municipality until 1 January 2009, when it fused together with the neighbour village

Miðvágur Miðvágur (), is a village in the Faroe Islands on Vágar. It has been a municipality until 1 January 2009 when it fused with Sandavágur into Vága kommuna. Located on the south coast of the island of Vágar, Miðvágur is the largest town on t ...

into the new

Vágar municipality Vágar Municipality () is a municipality in the Faroese Islands. It covers the eastern part of the island of Vágar (while Sørvágur Municipality covers the western part of the island). It was created on 1 January 2009 by fusing the two muni ...

. Data:

History

The town has an ancient history. A 13th century

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

, discovered in 1917, bears an inscription stating that the Norwegian

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

''Torkil Onundarson'' from

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

was the first settler in this area. The stone can be seen in Sandavágur Church. Excavations in the town have also uncovered ruins from the Middle Ages. ''Á Steig'' in Sandavágur was the residence of the Lagman, the lawspeaker and leader of the Faroese parliament, until 1816, when the office was abolished and the islands became a Danish administrative district. The clergyman V. U. Hammershaimb, who was born in Sandavágur in 1819 and became the father of the Faroese written language, was the son of the last law speaker. There is a freestanding rock to the east of the town called ''Trøllkonufingur'', which means ''Witch’s finger''. It is said to have been climbed only once, and the story goes like this: :''"

Frederick VII of Denmark Frederick VII (Frederik Carl Christian; 6 October 1808 – 15 November 1863) was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last monarch, king of Denmark to r ...

visited the Faroe Islands in 1844, and a man climbed the Witch’s finger so that he could wave to the King as he sailed past. Later, when the man had come down, he realized that he had left one of his gloves on the top of the rock, so decided to climb it again. On his way to the top he fell and died."''

Buildings

The distinctive red-roofed Church was built in 1917. A memorial was erected outside the church to one of the many ships that were sunk during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Vestanstevna festival

Sandavagur takes turns in hosting a civic festival called ''Vestanstevna'' which takes place annually at the beginning of July. The other participating villages are,

and

Sørvágur :''There is also a town called Vágur on Suðuroy.'' Sørvágur () is a village on the island of Vágar in the Faroe Islands. It is located at the landward end of Sørvágsfjørður. Sørvágur is the largest village in Sørvágur Municipality. ...

. The festival is similar to ''Olavsøka'' in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...

but smaller.

Economy

''Kovin'', the canning factory in Sandavágur produces canned fish products: primarily

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

, but also

roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...

and normal fish meat. It also produces various kinds of

pâté Pâté ( , , ) is a forcemeat. Originally, the dish was cooked in a pastry case; in more recent times it is more usually cooked without pastry in a terrine. Various ingredients are used, which may include meat from pork, poultry, fish or bee ...

, for example from

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

, shrimps and

tuna A tuna (: tunas or tuna) is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bul ...

Sports

The local football team was SÍF Sandavágur until they merged with MB Miðvágur to form FS Vágar in 1993. The merger collapsed in 2004 and the clubs separated again only for SÍF to become part of a newly formed club, 07 Vestur. The scorer of the only goal in the

Faroe Islands national football team The Faroe Islands national football team (, ) represents the Faroe Islands in men's international football, and is governed by the Faroe Islands Football Association (FSF). The FSF became a member of FIFA in 1988 and UEFA in 1990 and represen ...

s first ever competitive match, a shock win over Austria in 1990, Torkil Nielsen, was born in Sandavágur.

Notable people

* V. U. Hammershaimb (1819–1909) - founder of the Faroese written language. * Torkil Nielsen, scorer of the first goal ever of the

* Samuel Jacob Sesanus Olsen (1904–1994) - teacher, writer and translator.

Gallery

Image:Faroe stamp 511 vagar - sandavagur.jpg, Stamp FO 511 of

Postverk Føroya Posta is the postal service of the Faroe Islands and was founded on 1 April 1976 under the Home Rule of the Faroe Islands. On 16 December 2005, it became a public joint stock company under the name P/F Postverk Føroya (retroactive from 1 January ...

Image:Faroe stamp 059 runen stone.jpg, Runen Stone in Sandavágur, Stamp FR 59 of the Faroe Islands Image:Church of Sandavágur, Faroe Islands.jpg,

Sandavágur Church Sandavágur Church (; ) is a distinctive red-roofed church in the town of Sandavágur in the Faroe Islands. History The church of Sandavá was consecrated on 29 April 1917. It was the fifth in a series of churches built in the last 300 years. A ...

References

External links

* Official website o
Vága kommuna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandavagur Populated places in the Faroe Islands Vágar