Hafnarfjörður, officially Hafnarfjarðarkaupstaður, is a port town and municipality in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, located about south of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. The municipality consists of two non-contiguous areas in the Capital Region, on the southwest coast of the country. At about 31,500 inhabitants, Hafnarfjörður is the third-most populous city in Iceland after Reykjavík and

Kópavogur Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second-largest municipality by population. It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. ...

. It has established local industry and a variety of urban activities, with annual festival events.

Activities

The town is the site of an annual

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� ...

festival, where Viking culture enthusiasts from around the world display reconstructions of Viking garb, handicraft, sword-fighting and longbow shooting. It takes place in June.

Local industry

Just two kilometres () outside of Hafnarfjörður is an

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...

, run by Alcan. The smelter was originally built in 1969. Local elections were held in April 2007, where the people of the town voted against extension of the smelter.

History

Hafnarfjörður takes its name (meaning ''

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

'') from the area's natural harbour. The town is built on top of

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

lava field A lava field, sometimes called a lava bed, is a large, mostly flat area of lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of kilometers across the underlying terrain. Morp ...

s erupted from the nearby Krýsuvík volcanic system, including the 8000-year-old ''Búrfellshraun'' and the much younger 2000-year-old ''Óbrinnishólabruni''. There have been no new lava flows on the site since before the

Settlement of Iceland The settlement of Iceland ( ) is generally believed to have begun in the second half of the ninth century, when Norsemen, Norse settlers migrated across the North Atlantic. The reasons for the migration are uncertain: later in the Middle Ages Icel ...

, but the Krýsuvík system is still an active

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 oft ...

, last erupting in 2021 at

Fagradalsfjall Fagradalsfjall () is an active tuya volcano formed in the Last Glacial Period on the Southern Peninsula (Iceland), Reykjanes Peninsula, around from Reykjavík, Iceland. Fagradalsfjall is also the name for the wider volcanic system covering an ...

further to the southwest. Hafnarfjörður is first named in the medieval

Landnámabók (, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. is divided into five parts and ov ...

, and the earliest reports of voyages to Hafnarfjörður date from the end of the 14th century. Englishmen began trading in Hafnarfjörður in the 15th century, but German merchants followed in their wake and eventually drove the English out. In German documents, Hafnarfjörður was mentioned for the first time in 1391, and in another German document dating from 1486 the place was described as a trading place of merchants from

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

for the first time. The town of Hafnarfjörður became an official member of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. The first Lutheran church in Iceland was raised at Háigrandi , opposite Óseyri , just outside the small boat harbour in 1533. After that, the Hanseatic traders prevailed in town until 1602, based at Hvaleyri . At this point, the Danish monarchy established a Danish trade monopoly in Iceland which lasted until late in the 18th century. During this period, Hafnarfjörður was the nation's busiest trade centre. In 1793,

Bjarni Sívertsen Bjarni Sívertsen (baptised Bjarni Sigurðsson) (or Bjarni knight) (1763-1833) was an Icelandic merchant based in Hafnarfjörður and a pioneer in trade and fishing in Iceland. He has been called the father of Hafnarfjörður. Sívertsen had a hous ...

settled here and became influential in local business and international trade, setting up a major commercial fishing operation. His enterprise and initiative signalled the start of impressive commerce in the town. Ever since, he has been called "the father of Hafnarfjörður" and nicknamed "Sir Bjarni". His house in Vesturgata street, built in 1803, was transformed into a museum (''Sívertsenshús''). Around 1870, dramatic changes took place in Icelandic fishing. Residents followed the growing trend in Iceland of using decked boats rather than row-boats. This led to even more employment and rapid growth, and Hafnarfjörður was the fifth town in Iceland to attain official municipal status in 1908. The first mayor was Páll Einarsson, who later became the mayor of

. The first road between Reykjavík and Hafnarfjörður was finished in 1898. The first hydrological power plant in Iceland was built in Hafnarfjörður in 1904. In 1890 Hafnarfjörður had 616 inhabitants and it was one of the largest towns in Iceland. When Hafnarfjörður attained official municipal status on 1 June 1908 it had 1 400 inhabitants. In 1920 Hafnarfjörður had 2 366 inhabitants, in 1940 3 686, in 1960 7 160 and in 1980 12 312. The '' Coot'', Iceland's first trawler, operated from Hafnarfjörður between 1905 and 1908. Its boiler stands by the

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

on the junction of Reykjavíkurvegur, Strandgata and Vesturgata. A harbour for large commercial ships was raised in 1912, and the first car arrived in 1913. After

World War II 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 ...

, more advanced

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the World War I, Fir ...

and numerous motorised ships were added to the fleet. The town's first stern trawler appeared in 1973. Today, Hafnarfjörður is one of the nation's largest fishing centres and the site of Iceland's first fish

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

rs' auction market. Through the years, Hafnarfjörður's dynamic local economy has been strongly linked to fishing, although freight transport has recently become the major harbour activity. And now, the town is Iceland's second-ranked import and export harbour. Hafnarfjörður is the third largest town of Iceland, after Reykjavík and Kópavogur.

Geography

Climate

The climate in Hafnarfjörður is

subpolar oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfc'').

Local festivals

Bright days

Each year in May, th
Bright Days festival
is held. The events include short movies, concerts and usually conclude on a day commemorating the sailors of Iceland.

Viking festival

Each year on the summer

solstice A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly sun path, excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries ...

a Viking festival is held in Hafnarfjörður. A local pub and restaurant, Fjörukráin, started the festival and maintains it to this day.

Sights

There are various old buildings left in the old town centre, e.g. ''Pakkhúsið'' , a store house dating from 1865 which houses the Museum of Navigation (''Sjóminjasafn Íslands'' ). ''Sívertsenshús'', an old dwelling house built in 1803, is the oldest building in Hafnarfjörður. It is known by the name ''Hús Bjarna riddara Sívertsen'' as well and it was transformed into a museum in 1974. ''Hafnarfjarðarkirkja'' , the oldest church in town, was consecrated in 1914. Strandgata and Fjarðargata are two old streets in the centre where some historical buildings are preserved. No. 55 of Strandargata is a former wooden store house which was built in 1841 and enlarged in 1880. No. 57 is a wooden residential building dating from 1841. St. Joseph's Church (''Sankti Jósefskirkja'' ), one of the few Roman Catholic churches in Iceland whose parish was founded in 1926, can be visited in the South of the town centre. ''Karmelklaustur'' is the only Catholic monastery in Iceland. ''Fríkirkjan í Hafnarfirði'' is a Protestant church built in 1913. ''Hafnarborg'' is a centre of arts and culture where concerts and exhibitions are organized. Hafnarfjörður boasts its own Municipal Theatre, the Icelandic Museum of Films (''Kvikmyndasafn Íslands'' ) and a Museum of Telecommunication (''Póst- og Símaminjasafnið'' ). Many Icelanders believe in

elves An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''. In medieval Germanic-speakin ...

and

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

s. Hellisgerði is a small park with lava rocks in the centre of the town which is visited by many people believing that elves and trolls reside there. The northernmost

Bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

trees of the world grow in Hellisgerði as well. ''Víðistaðatún'' is a park in the town centre which is famous for its sculptures created by Icelandic and international well-known artists. ''Víðistaðakirkja'' is a modern church, hemicycle in shape which was inaugurated in the park in 1988. The symbol of Hafnarafjörður is ''Viti'' , a lighthouse built around 1900 which can be seen in a residential area on private property.

Swimming pools

Hafnarfjörður has three swimming pools: Suðurbæjarlaug, Ásvallalaug, and Sundhöll Hafnarfjarðar.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hafnarfjörður is twinned with: *

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

, Iceland *

Bærum Bærum () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Akershus County, Norway. It forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a populatio ...

, Norway *

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

, Germany *

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

, Denmark *

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; ; ; or ''Croneburgum'') is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Kanta-Häme. It is located in the southern interior of the country and on the shores of Vanajavesi, Lake Vanajavesi. The population of Hämeenlinna is appr ...

, Finland * Ilulissat, Greenland * Juanjui,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

, Estonia *

Tvøroyri Tvøroyri is a village on the north side of the Trongisvágsfjørður on the east coast of Suðuroy island in the Faroe Islands. Together with Froðba, Trongisvágur, Líðin and Øravík it forms Tvøroyri Municipality. The village is considered ...

, Faroe Islands *

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, Sweden

Sport

There are two major sport clubs in Hafnarfjörður: Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (FH) and Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar. FH men's and women's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

teams have won several national championships. FH have won the Icelandic Handball league in total of 25 times and have won the cup 6 times which makes them the most successful team competing in Icelandic handball. Haukar have a magnificent history in handball with many titles. Haukar were champions in 1943, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2015 and cup holders in 1980, 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2010. Hafnarfjörður also has a gymnastics club, Fimleikafélagið Björk, established on 1 July 1951. Local swimming club, Sundfélag Hafnarfjarðar (SH), was established on 19 June 1945. The triathlon club 3SH, is part of the club. Keilir Golf Club is an 18-hole golf club and course located on the Hvaleyri peninsula. Iceland Cricket opened the world's northernmost cricket field in 2019 in Hafnarfjörður. At a latitude of 64.07°N, the field broke the record previously held in

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

, Sweden (63.84°N) by 25 km (15.5 mi). It was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

In popular culture

In the 1986 novel '' Red Storm Rising'' by

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

, the Soviet Union gains a dramatic strategic advantage at the beginning of the war by seizing Iceland with a Guards Airborne division transported secretly by converted freighters. When the US Marine Corps retake Iceland, they initially land at Hafnarfjörður before advancing on Keflavik. Additionally, in the novella, ''The Odd Saga of the American and a Curious Icelandic Flock'', Snorri calls Alex in the middle of the night to tell him that he is passing through Hafnarfjörður and will be picking him up shortly for a trip to

Snæfellsnes The Snæfellsnes () is a peninsula situated to the west of Borgarfjörður, in western Iceland. The peninsula has a volcanic origin having the Snæfellsnes volcanic belt down its centre, and the Snæfellsjökull volcano A volcano is com ...

. In 2017 a petition calling upon the Icelandic Prime Minister to erect a statue of Stefán Karl Stefánsson in his hometown of Hafnarfjörður “to forever immortalize and honour his amazing legacy” was created. After his death in 2018, there was a surge of signatures. There are now over 528,000 signatures.

Notable people

Ólafía Einarsdóttir Ólafía Einarsdóttir (28 July 1924 – 19 December 2017) was an Icelandic archaeologist and historian, specialising in Icelandic chronology. She was the first Icelander to complete a degree in archaeology. After completing her PhD from Lund Un ...

, first Icelander to earn a degree in archaeology * Elin Sigurdardottir, two-time Olympic swimmer * Sveinn Eythorsson, guitarist and software developer * Logi Geirsson, former handballer * Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, children's book author * Friðrik Dór Jónsson, pop artist * Jón Jónsson, pop artist * Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir, photographer, artist * Ólafur Guðmundsson, handball player *

Hildur Guðnadóttir Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir (born 4 September 1982) is an Icelandic musician and composer. A classically trained cellist, she has played and recorded with the bands Pan Sonic, Throbbing Gristle, Múm, and Stórsveit Nix Noltes, and ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning composer * Björgvin Halldórsson, musician * Emil Hallfreðsson, former footballer * Geir Hallsteinsson, former handballer * Indie band

Jakobínarína Jakobínarína were an Icelandic six-piece indie-punk band from Hafnarfjörður. Jakobinarina were formed by Ágúst Fannar Ásgeirsson, Björgvin Ingi Pétursson, Gunnar Bergmann, Hallberg Dadi Hallbergsson, Heimir Gestur Valdimarsson and Sig ...

* Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (Yohanna) was born in Copenhagen but raised in Hafnarfjörður, she was chosen to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia with the song "Is It True?", earning her 2nd place * Aron Pálmarsson, handballer in

THW Kiel THW Kiel is a professional handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 23 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed t ...

* Sesselja Sigmundsdóttir (born Hafnarfjörður 5 July 1902) * Gylfi Sigurðsson, footballer currently plays for

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish language, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping stre ...

* Sóley (musician), indie pop singer-songwriter * Stefán Karl Stefánsson, actor, most known for his role as Robbie Rotten on the Icelandic children's TV series, ''

LazyTown ''LazyTown'' () is an Icelandic children's educational musical television series created by aerobics champion Magnús Scheving. Originally produced in English, it has been broadcast in dozens of languages globally. Designed to encourage health ...

'' *Þórhallur Sigurðsson, Laddi, actor * Dagur Dan Þórhallsson, footballer

Notes

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafnarfjordur Populated places in Capital Region (Iceland) Municipalities of Iceland Members of the Hanseatic League