Vágur

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Typical dramatic light scenery in the Faroe Islands: The town of Vágur, winter 2004
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Typical dramatic light scenery in the Faroe Islands: The town of Vágur, winter 2004
Church of Vágur on SuðuroyChristmas Stamp FO 503Artist: Jákup Pauli GregoriussenIssued: 20 Sept 2004
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Church of Vágur on Suðuroy
Christmas Stamp FO 503
Artist: Jákup Pauli Gregoriussen
Issued: 20 Sept 2004

Vágur (Danish name: Våg meaning Bay) is a town on the Faroe Island of Suðuroy.

Population: 1452 (31st December 2002)
Postcode: FO 900
Municipality: Vágs kommuna
Location: 61°28′31″N, 6°48′26″W
Soccer association: VB (Vágs Bóltfelag)

Vágur is situated on the east coast of the island on the Vágsfjørður fjord, and dates from the fourteenth century. Expansion has meant that the nearby town of Nes is now a suburb of Vágur. The town has a slipway, a fleet of fishing vessels and a filleting factory.

Vagur Church
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Vagur Church

The first hydroelectric power station in the Faroe Islands was built in Vágur in 1920. It is now supplemented by a modern diesel power station on the south side of the fjord.

Vágur Church was built in 1927.

There is a memorial near the main road through Vágur commemorating the efforts of Nólsoyar-Poul Poulson, the nineteenth-century Faroese hero, poet and genius. He believed that the monopoly trading scheme was seriously restricting the economic potential of the Faroe Islands and set about organising opposition and resistance to it. Although he failed to abolish the monopolies, his actions were the start of a process which eventually led to the abolition of monopoly trading in 1856.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Swaney [February 1991] (1999). Iceland, Greenland & the Faroe Islands, 3rd edition, Lonely Planet Publications. ISBN 0864424531.