Sandavágur ( da, Sandevåg) is a city on the south coast of the Faroese island of Vágar. 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 ( da, Midvåg), 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 ...

into the new Vágar municipality. Data:

History

The town has an ancient history. A 13th century

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones d ...

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

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 se ...

''Torkil Onundarson'' from Rogaland 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 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

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 ( da, Sørvåg) 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 ...

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

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), 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 the city lies the ...

but smaller.

Economy

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

and normal fish meat. It also produces various kinds of

pâté ''Pâté'' ( , , ) is a paste, pie or loaf filled with a forcemeat. Common forcemeats include ground meat from pork, poultry, fish or beef; fat, vegetables, herbs, spices and either wine or brandy (often cognac or armagnac). It is often ser ...

, for example from

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

, shrimps and

tuna A 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 bullet tuna (max len ...

Sports

The local football team was SÍF Sandavágur until they merged with

MB Miðvágur MB, Mb or M. B. may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Mälarhöjden/Bredäng Hockey, a Swedish ice hockey club * Media Blasters, an American multimedia entertainment distributor * Mediobanca, and Italian company with Borsa Italiana sto ...

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 ( fo, Føroyska fótbóltsmanslandsliðið) represents the Faroe Islands in association football and is governed by the Faroe Islands Football Association (FSF). The FSF became a member of FIFA in 198 ...

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 Januar ...

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

References

External links

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