Hvolsvöllur () is a small town 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 ...

about 106 km to the 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 ...

Overview

The name of the town literally translates to "Hillfield". ( in the genitive case) is an archaic form of the modern Icelandic word , meaning "hill", and means "field". The name is derived from the name of the historic farm (, "Stórólfur's hill"). The

hringvegur Route 1 or the Ring Road ( or ) is a national road in Iceland that circles the entire country. As a major trunk route, it is considered to be the most important piece of transport infrastructure in Iceland as it connects the majority of towns ...

(road no.1) traverses the town which has 1036 inhabitants. In the surrounding areas there is an additional population of about 800 people, who are also part of the municipality. Not far from Hvolsvöllur are an airfield and a port ( Landeyjahöfn ) that offer transportation to

Vestmannaeyjar 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, Vestmannaeyj ...

(Westman Islands). The area is the scene of one of the most well-known

sagas is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...

of Iceland, Njál's saga. The town of Hvolsvöllur has a Saga Centre dedicated to this and other Icelandic sagas. In 2010, the

volcanic eruptions Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...

Eyjafjallajökull Eyjafjallajökull (; ), sometimes referred to by the numeronym E15, is one of the smaller ice caps of Iceland, north of Skógar and west of Mýrdalsjökull. The ice cap covers the caldera of a volcano with a summit elevation of . The volcan ...

caused evacuations in the surrounding area, with people being relocated to Hvolsvöllur, where

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

mass care centres had been set up. is a Protestant church in Hvolsvöllur. It was built in 1930 and can seat 120 people. The interior was painted in 1955. Above the altar there is a painting by Þórarin B. Þorláksson, a famous Icelandic painter, dating from 1914 which shows

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

blessing the children.

Climate

Similar to the rest of the southern coast of Iceland, Hvolsvöllur has a subpolar oceanic climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Cfc'') with cool summers and cold winters, although relatively mild for its high latitude. Precipitation is abundant year round, with October usually seeing the most precipitation.

Sports

* Ungmennafélagið Hekla

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hvolsvollur Populated places in Southern Region (Iceland)

Overview

Climate

Sports

See also

References