Velbastaður () is a village on the island of

Streymoy Streymoy (, ) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest region of the country that also includes the ...

in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. It is a part of Tórshavn Municipality and is considered among the oldest settlements in the islands. There are two schools and one kindergarten in the village, with children coming from the neighboring village of Kirkjubø as well as the capital at

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 ...

Geography

Velbastaður is on Streymoy’s west coast in the south of the island, north of the ferry port of

Gamlarætt Gamlarætt is a ferry port in the Faroe Islands. It is situated on the southwestern side of the island of Streymoy, the largest island in the Faroes, between the villages of Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur. It accommodates ferry services to the islan ...

and about five kilometres from

Kirkjubøur Kirkjubøur () is the southernmost village on Streymoy, Faroe Islands. The village is located on the south-west coast of Streymoy and has a view towards the islands of Hestur and Koltur towards the west, and to Sandoy towards the south. It lies ...

. It has a beautiful view across the strait of Hestsfjørður towards the islands of Hestur and

Koltur Koltur is an island in the Faroe Islands, located to the west of Streymoy and to the north-west of Hestur. The name 'Koltur' means ' colt', in contrast with the name of the larger island to the south-east, 'Hestur', which means 'horse'. The islan ...

. The islands 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 ...

and Mykines can be seen further to the west, and

Sandoy Sandoy ("Sand Island") is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the Regions of the Faroe Islands, region ...

further to the south.

History

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

finds have unearthed artifacts possibly dating as far back as the

Viking age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, but most locations used in those times have washed into the sea now. Velbastaður is located nearly in the center of the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

, and close to the old Thing in

across the mountain. This would support the idea that there was a shrine at Velbastaður. Tórshavn means the harbor of

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

. It was a natural harbor, and would be a good place for travelers to land their ships and boats and complete their journey overland, if conditions on the southwestern coast were disagreeable. The location of Kirkjubø, only 5 km to the south east on the same coast, supports the notion that there was a heathen shrine at Velbastað. The early

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

church would often locate their headquarters as close as possible to sacred heathen locations, making it easier to subdue and convert the most fervent supporters of the old faiths. The village was deserted for some time after the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

in 1349. The population of the village has increased in recent years from 134 in 1990, to 220 in 2015, mainly due to its close proximity to the capital

, while still preserving the feeling of living in the countryside. A new residential and industrial area is being built on the rocks being excavated from the Sandoy tunnel.

Name origin

The place name Velbastaður is unique in the Faroes as it is the only settlement with the ending ''staður'', meaning place or location. The name is considered by many the same as the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''Vébólstaðr'', meaning "farm with a Vé or

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

". ''Vé'' (from the

) was a type of

sacred enclosure In the study of the history of religions and anthropology, a sacred enclosure refers to any structure intended to separate two spaces: a sacred space and a profane space. Generally, it is a separation wall erected to mark the difference between t ...

or a sanctuary. Locations with similar prefixes of Ve and histories of sacred locations, can be found several places in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, such as Vebbestad in Kvæstad,

Troms Troms (; ; ; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. It borders Finnmark county to the northeast and Nordland county in the southwest. Norrbotten Län in Sweden is located to the south and further southeast is a shorter border with ...

and Veibust, in Sula, Møre og Romsdal.

Gallery

References

External links

*Village description i
faoeislands.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velbastadur Populated places in the Faroe Islands