Hveragerði (, "hot-spring yard") is a town and municipality in the south of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, 45 km east of

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

on Iceland's main ringroad, Route 1. The river Varmá runs through the town.

Overview

The surrounding area is part of the

Hengill Hengill (Icelandic language, Icelandic, pronounced ) is a volcano, volcanic mountain range situated in the southwest of Iceland, to the south of Þingvellir. The mountain range covers an area of about 100 km². The volcano is still active, e ...

central

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

, and is geothermally active and experiences very frequent (usually minor)

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s. The town is known for its

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of Transparent ceramics, transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic condit ...

s, which are heated by hot water from

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. The first greenhouse was built in 1923. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain

extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...

micro-organisms, that are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments. Close to the church is a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

called (, "sand hill hot-spring"), formed during the violent South Iceland earthquake of 1896. A fenced-off geothermal area in the town has numerous

and

fumaroles A fumarole (or fumerole) is a vent in the surface of the Earth or other rocky planet from which hot volcanic gases and vapors are emitted, without any accompanying liquids or solids. Fumaroles are characteristic of the late stages of volcani ...

. Hveragerði contains a number of greenhouses and is a hotbed for Icelandic

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. To the south of Hveragerði, there is the small port of

Þorlákshöfn Þorlákshöfn () is a town on the southern coast of Iceland in the Municipality of Ölfus. The town is named after Saint Thorlak who was a bishop at Skálholt. Its main importance is as a port as it has the only harbour on Iceland's southern coa ...

, winter point of departure for the ferry to the

Westman Islands Vestmannaeyjar (, sometimes anglicized as Westman Islands) is a municipality and archipelago off the south coast of Iceland. The largest island, Heimaey, has a population of 4,414, most of whom live in the archipelago's main town, Vestmannaeyja ...

History

Water from hot springs has been used for heating in this area since 1929. Hveragerði had 121 inhabitants in 1940 and 399 in 1946. Hveragerði was awarded municipal status (''kaupstaðuréttindi'') on 1 July 1987. In 1989 the town had 1.593 inhabitants. On 29 May 2008 30 people were injured and many buildings in Hveragerði and its surroundings were damaged by an earthquake (6.3 on the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

Buildings and Culture

''Hveragerðiskirkja'', a modern Protestant church, was built 1967–72. ''Listasafn Árnesinga'' is a museum of arts founded in 1963 where about 500 pieces of art are exhibited. The exhibition ''Skjálftinn 2008'' in ''Sunnumörk'' shopping centre refers to the earthquake of 2008. There is also a swimming pool there called Laugasgarður which is the largest one in Iceland tied with Laugardalslaug which has too 50 m long swimming pools.

Parks

''Hveragarðurinn'' is a park with various hot springs and fumaroles and information boards providing explanations on the occurrence. In ''Lystigarðurinn Fossflöt'', a park which was founded in 1983, a hydroelectric power station can be visited which was built as early as 1902 beside the waterfall ''Reykjafoss''.

Sport

The local football club is

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

, who play in Iceland's fourth tier.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hveragerði is twinned with: * Äänekoski, Finland * Ikast-Brande, Denmark *

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (, ) is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the Hig ...

, Sweden * Sigdal, Norway * Tarp, Germany

Climate

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hveragerdi Municipalities of Iceland Populated places in Southern Region (Iceland)