Lopra

Lopra
Village

Lopra
Lopra

Location in the Faroe Islands

Coordinates: 61°26′40″N 6°46′8″W / 61.44444°N 6.76889°WCoordinates: 61°26′40″N 6°46′8″W / 61.44444°N 6.76889°W
State  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country  Faroe Islands
Island Suðuroy
Municipality Sumbiar kommuna
Population (1 January 2009)
 • Total 96
Time zone GMT
 • Summer (DST) EST (UTC+1)
Postal code FO 926

Lopra is a village on the island of Suðuroy in the Faroe Islands, with the postal code FO 926. In 2009 its population was 96.

It is located in the Municipality of Sumba along with the villages Akrar, Sumba and Víkarbyrgi, constituting the southernmost settlements in the Faroe Islands. The name Lopra may have its origin in the gaelic word "lobar" which translates into English as leprosy, and Lopra may be a pre-Norse settlement of Gaelic hermits from c.6th to c.8th AD.

Lopranseiði and Lopransholmur

Lopranseiði

Lopranseiði and Lopransholmur are beautiful sights near Lopra. Turn left just before you enter the village, if you come from Vágur, and go by foot towards west. Be careful not to fall over the edge, when you come to Loprans Eiði. From Lopranseiði you can see Beinisvørð towards south and almost half of the west coast of Suðuroy.

Westerbeek went shipwreck south of Lopranseiði

A Dutch ship named SS Westerbeek went shipwreck near Lopranseiði on 2 September 1742. 80 men survived the accident, one died in the attempt to climb the steep cliff of Lopranseiði, 10 men lost their lives while still on board, they were ill and stayed in bed when the accident took place. Three of the survivors were allowed to leave the Faroe Islands short time after the accident, with Danish ships which were in Tórshavn at that time. But the captains of these two ships refused to take all 80 men with them to Denmark. So 77 of the survivors had to live in the Faroe Islands for 9 months, before they could go back to the Netherlands and to the other countries where they came from.[1]

The Whaling Station in Lopra

A whaling station was built in Lopra in 1901[2] by Norwegians. In 1940 to 1946 there was no activity there, but in 1946 it opened again. Two years later there were new owners: Andrew and Mikkjal Godtfred from Vágur bought the whaling station from Gudmund Mortensen from Tvøroyri. Johannes Nilssen was manager most of the years. His son Meinert J. Nilssen lives in Iceland, he visited the Faroe Islands in 2008 and gave some gifts to the museum of Vágur, and told the people there about his fathers work at the whaling station. Anders Andersen from Norway was one of the men who built the whaling station, and he was foreman there for many years. He mentions that the whaling station was closed during World War II, from 1912-1916. In 1925 Johannes Nilssen went to the Netherlands to build a whaling station there. Anders Andersen was manager for the whalings station in Lopra while Nilssen was away. In 1926 Johannes Nilssen and others rented the whaling station in Lopra. Einar Mikkelsen ran the whaling station from 1928 –1930. N. J. Mortensen ran the whaling station from 1932 to 1939 and again from 1946 to 1947.[3] Ca. 70 people worked on the whaling station, most of the workers came from Sumba, some came from Vágur and Porkeri. There was no road between Lopra and Sumba, so the workers had to walk from Sumba, stey in baracks during the week and then walk back again for the weekend (Sunday).[4] In 1953 the numbers of whales were not enough to make any profit, so the whaling station closed down for good.

References

  1. ↑ Mathias Lassen: Westerbeek ISBN 978-99918-3-256-2, Forlagið Undir Rókunum, 2008. 288 pages
  2. ↑ Savn.fo, Søgan (in Faroese)
  3. ↑ Old.Sudurras.info, Meinert J. Nilssen latið forkunnuga gávu til Vágs Sóknar Bygdasavn (in Faroese)
  4. ↑ FF Blaðið 2 September 2004 (Faroese newspaper for the Faroese Fishermen's Association, page 10, Keyptu hvalastøðina í Lopra.
View to Lopra, the top of Beinisvørð is to the left, the pyramide shaped mountain to the right is Kirvi

External links

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lopra.