Stykkishólmur () is a town and municipality situated in the western part of

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 ...

, in the northern part of the

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 ...

peninsula. It is a center of services and commerce for the area. Most of the people make their living from fishing and tourism. A ferry called ''Baldur'' goes over the

Breiðafjörður Breiðafjörður (, ''wide fjord'') is a large shallow bay, about wide and long, to the west of Iceland. It separates the region of the Westfjords (Vestfirðir) from the Snæfellsnes peninsula to the south. Breiðafjörður is encircled by mo ...

fjord to the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of I ...

. It also is the gateway to Flatey. The origin of Stykkishólmur can be traced to its natural harbor. The location became an important trading post early in Iceland's history: the first trading post in Stykkishólmur is traced back to the mid-16th century, even before Denmark implemented the Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly (1602 – 1787). From that time trading has been at the heart of the settlement's history. In 1828 Árni Thorlacius built a large house for his home and companies, the Norwegian house, which has been renovated and accommodates the local museum.

Overview

The favorable position of Stykkishólmur was discovered in 1550 when a trading post was founded at the site. Today, the most vital employment sectors in the town are fishing and tourism, especially during the summer. There are several sightworthy wooden buildings in the town centre. ''Egilsenshús'' is a wooden house dating from 1867 which belonged to a Danish merchant. The town was named after a small island in front of the harbor called ''Stykkið'' (, "the piece"). The nearby mountain of

Helgafell Helgafell may refer to: * Helgafell (Hafnarfjörður), a mountain , on the Reykjanes peninsula, south-west Iceland * Helgafell, a mountain , in Mosfellsbær north-east of Reykjavík * Helgafell, a mountain at , in Rangárþing eystra, south-cen ...

is the burial place of

Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir Guðrún is a feminine given name. The English and German version of the name is Gudrun. It is one of the most frequently given female names in Iceland. In 2004, it was ranked first before Anna and Sigríður.Lonely Planet Iceland Fran Parnell, ...

, a heroine of the

Icelandic sagas The sagas of Icelanders (, ), also known as family sagas, are a subgenre, or text group, of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives primarily based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early elev ...

. The port of Stykkishólmur has a long history as a trading hub, dating back to the mid-16th century. The port was used by Icelanders emigrating to North America. 1887 saw a peak in emigration with over 70 people leaving the port. About 500 people eventually emigrated from Stykkishólmur port to North America between 1870-1914. The town's former library has been restored as a public hall and contains an installation by the American artist

Roni Horn Roni Horn (born September 25, 1955) is an American visual artist and writer. The granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was born in New York City, where she lives and works. She is currently represented by Xavier Hufkens in Brussels an ...

. The sports club of Stykkishólmur is called Snæfell, named after the glacier

Snæfellsjökull Snæfellsjökull (, ''snow-fell glacier'') is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. It is situated on the westernmost part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of Reykjavík over Faxa ...

located on Snæfellsnes. The town's most popular sport is

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

In popular culture

A famous Icelander from Stykkishólmur is Sveinn Kristján Bjarnason. He was born in 1887 at Breiðabólstaður and emigrated with his parents from Stykkishólmur in 1889. Their destination was Winnipeg. In the United States, he became Edgar Holger Cahill. He worked as the National Director of the Federal Art Project through the WPA (Works Projects Administration) from 1935-1943. He was the Director of the Museum of Modern Art, a writer, curator, and expert on American folk art. He developed this work-relief program for artists under the New Deal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is the interesting Icelander in this article: In the 1986 novel ''

Red Storm Rising ''Red Storm Rising'' is a war novel, written by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond, and released on August 7, 1986. Set in the mid-1980s, it features a Third World War between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Warsaw Pact forces, and is notab ...

'', Stykkishólmur is the site of a landing by

US Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

tasked with liberating Iceland from occupying

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forces.

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

champion

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...

was planning on moving to Stykkishólmur before his sudden death in early 2008. Stykkishólmur is the main setting in the short story ''Tussenlanding'' (''Transfer'') from the 1991 short story collection ''De Matador en andere verhalen'' by

Tim Krabbé Hans Maarten Timotheus "Tim" Krabbé (born 13 April 1943) is a Dutch journalist, novelist and chess player. Krabbé was born in Amsterdam. His writing has appeared in most major periodicals in the Netherlands. Once a competitive cyclist, he is kn ...

. The story features a Dutchman coming to Iceland in hope to start a relationship with an Icelandic woman he barely knows. The town was the filming location for the depictions of

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

in the 2013 movie ''

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber's stories, it first appeared in ''The New Yorker'' on March 18, 1939, and was first collected in his book ''My World and Welcome to It'' ( Ha ...

''.

Town festival

Every year on the second or third weekend in August, the people in Stykkishólmur celebrate the ''Danskir dagar'' ("Danish days") festival, which honors the town's historic connections with Denmark. The festival has been held every year since 1994.

Twin towns – sister cities

Stykkishólmur is twinned with: *

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

, Norway *

Kolding Kolding () is a Denmark, Danish seaport city located at the head of Kolding Fjord in the Region of Southern Denmark. It is the seat of Kolding Municipality. It is a transportation, commercial, and manufacturing centre and has numerous industria ...

, Denmark *

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

, Finland *

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

, Sweden

Climate

Stykkishólmur features a

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 ...

moderated by the nearby ocean. It has cool summers, but also winter averages less cold than cities much further south featuring temperate continental climates, such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, or Denver. April - July is the driest season, while autumn and winter is the wettest season.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stykkisholmur Municipalities of Iceland Populated places in Western Region (Iceland)