Stykkishólmur

65.072672222222 - 22.733544444444Koordinaten: 65 ° 4 ' N, 22 ° 44 ' W

The municipality Stykkishólmur ( Isl Stykkishólmsbær ) is located in the west of Iceland in the region Vesturland on the north side of the Snæfellsnes peninsula.

On 1 January 2009 the municipality had 1111 inhabitants and is by Icelandic standards one of the larger towns outside the capital region around Reykjavík. By the year 1892, the village belonged to the municipality Helgafellssveit. The market rights ( Isl kaupstaðurréttindi ) received the place in 1987.

• 5.1 Weather Station
• 5.2 Water Museum

• 6.1 Town twinning

Name

It is named after the small town of mostly built in the harbor wall skerry Stykkið.

Location

Stykkishólmur located on the southern Breiðafjörður on the THORSNES peninsula, making it the starting point for the ferry Baldur, if you want to in the Westfjords ( she puts in Brjánslækur on) or on the small island of Flatey.

Economy

Main economic factors are now fishing (not least haddock and crabs) and tourism.

History

The beginnings

It was recognized early on the convenient location and therefore a trading post was established here in 1550, initially by German merchants of Bremen and Oldenburg.

The place is particularly well suited for a harbor the plant since the small island Súgandisey with their lava pillars protects the driveway, which was exploited early on creating boats. Busy is a dispute from 1596 between the Hanseatic merchant Carsten Bache from Bremen and Johann, Count of Oldenburg, because the Danish king Frederik III. supposedly the trading rights of the area both have sold.

After 1602 the Danish king had imposed a trade monopoly for his countrymen, took over the Danes, ie actually the merchants from Malmö, which was Danish at the time. The country was divided at the time in areas which were each to a trading venue. And for the local area included the entire Breiðafjörður, a wealthy district that time because of the additional income from the eiderdown use, from fishing and hunting. For this purpose, the northern coast of Snæfellsnes came across the district Dalir to Þorskafjörður in the southern West Fjords and the area of ​​Berserkjahraun. From the beginning of the 18th century the trade was under here directly to the Danish king.

At the end of the 18th century the monopoly trade was abolished, took over the last royal Trade Representative, Didrik Hölter, initially even trade to the rights to Ólafur Thorlacius, a merchant to sell soon after in 1806 from Bíldudalur.

In addition, the Icelander Jón also Kolbeinsson (1764-1836) settled down as a merchant in Stykkishólmur. This was, for example, in business relationships Jörundur, the dog days of King Iceland.

The town grew rapidly in the 19th century. B. Jakobsen founded a pharmacy in 1838, which was only the third in Iceland as a whole.

The first fishing boats had the rich merchant Árni Thorlacius ( 1802-91 ), who sent his people from here to 1845 to fish, and also with its merchant shops and in the cultural sector the place had a decisive effect.

Then the fishing was a break until 1890 Niels Gram created a fishing company. Hjálmur Sigurðsson (1871-1918) also founded a trading company, which was acquired by Kaupfélag later. He, incidentally, was married to the sister of the famous Icelandic writer Gunnar Gunnarsson.

20th century

The most important man in the place was at the beginning of the 20th century Sæmundur Halldórsson ( 1861-1940 ). He had a fishing company with 5 ships and dominated the trade in fish in western Iceland. He was also District Officer ( Isl sýslumaður ) in the area.

At the beginning of the 20th century (1909 ) and the harbor was extended, where they used the skerry Stykkið as a basis.

In 1928 the first car came to Stykkishólmur, exactly 24 years after a wealthy merchant from Reykjavík had imported the first car ever to Iceland. In the same year, the first plane landed in Stykkishólmur.

Franciscan Sisters of the Netherlands was formed in the 1930s the monastery and hospital at the site, later a kindergarten. Nowadays, besides fishing the largest employer is the Catholic nunnery where currently live 9 sisters who work in the hospital especially.

Buildings, Culture and sights

The place has many preserved historic houses.

The oldest house in the village, Norska Husid, is the local history museum. Árni Thorlacius had the house built in the 19th century. A typical old Danish trading company is Frúarhúsið. Some old houses correspond to the so-called Swiss style with carvings on the roof beams.

The old church was built in 1878. Previously people had to the fair after Helgafell ride or run. The new church made ​​of concrete can be seen from afar because of its striking shape. It was designed by architect Jón Haraldsson (1930-1989) designed and dedicated in 1990.

Weather Station

The weather station in Stykkiishólmur is quite old by local standards. The above-mentioned Árni Thorlacius began here in 1845 as one of the first regular meteorological observations in Iceland.

Today, there is a computerized monitoring station.

Water Museum

The American artist Roni Horn was founded here by the Water Museum, where she set up columns with the water from all the major glaciers of Iceland and explanations.

Policy

Twinning

Stykkishólmur connects twinned with the Danish town of Kolding. Because you feel for the story as a trading post to the Danes connected, is held every year a Danish Festival ( Danskir ​​dagar ) in August. Here, according to ancient custom is ( officially ) only Danish spoken in the village on Sundays.

In addition, twinning exist in the following locations:

• Norway Drammen, Norway
• Finland Lappeenranta, Finland
• Sweden Örebro, Sweden

Sons and daughters of the city

• Haraldur Sigurðsson, geologist, 1939 *

Population Development

Also in Stykkishólmur can get a - however slight - Decrease the number of inhabitants find as many municipalities in Iceland in the country ( rural exodus ).