Vágur

Not to be confused with Vágar.
Vágur
Våg
Municipality and village

Location of Vágs kommuna in the Faroe Islands
Vágur

Location of Vágur in the Faroe Islands

Coordinates: 61°28′31″N 6°48′26″W / 61.47528°N 6.80722°WCoordinates: 61°28′31″N 6°48′26″W / 61.47528°N 6.80722°W
State  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country  Faroe Islands
Island Suðuroy
Government
  Mayor Dennis Holm
Population (2010)
  Total 1,361
Time zone GMT
  Summer (DST) EST (UTC+1)
Postal code FO 900
Website Official homepage

Vágur meaning Bay (Danish: Våg) is a town on the island of Suðuroy, part of the Faroe Islands.

It is situated on the east coast of the island on the Vágsfjørður fjord, and was founded in the fourteenth century. Expansion has meant that the nearby town of Nes is now a suburb of Vágur. Vágur has a sports hall next to the football grounds on Eiðinum, near Vágseiði, a swimmingpool by the school and a clinic which offers the services of doctors, nurses and dentists. There is also a hotel, one bank and various shops.[1]

The port area, which is 14 m in depth, is situated on the northern part of the fjord.[2] The port authorities can offer services of piloting (lods), water and fire-fighting, and in connection with the harbour there is a modern fish factory and auctioneers for fish. Salmon farming is also a part of the fish industry in Vágur, this includes salmon farm rings on the fjord and in other places near the east coast of Suðuroy and a salmon factory. The town has a slipway, a fleet of fishing vessels and a filleting factory.

History

Wooden row boats from Vágur on Vágseiði, the oldest one was built in 1872
The Church of Vágur
Ship models from the World War II Museum in Vágur, models of the ships from Vágur which were lost during WWII.

Nólsoyar Páll Memorial

Memorial in memory of Royndin Fríða, which was built here in 1804, the first Faroese ship since Middle Ages. The memorial was made by Tóri Nattestad.

There is a memorial near the main road through Vágur commemorating the efforts of Nólsoyar Páll, the nineteenth-century poet and captain of Royndin Fríða (Beautiful Trial). 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.[5] The memorial was erected in memory of the fact that in 1804 on this spot, now called Fløtan Fríða, the first Faroese ship since the Middle Ages was built.[6] The text on the memorial says: "Her á Fløtuni Fríðu bygdu Nólsoyar Páll, Jákup bóndi í Toftum, Per bóndi í Gjørðum og aðrir í 1804 Føroya fyrsta skip Royndina Fríðu." - "Here on Fløtan Fríða Nólsoyar Páll, Jákup bóndi í Toftum (a farmer from Toftir in Vágur), Per bóndi í Gjørðum (a farmer from Gjørðum in Porkeri) and others built the first Faroese ship, Royndin Fríða."

First Faroese hydroelectric power plant

The first hydroelectric power station in the Faroe Islands was built in Botni northwest of Vágur in 1921.[7] It is now supplemented by a modern diesel power station on the south side of the fjord.

Tourism

Typical dramatic light scenery in the Faroe Islands: The town of Vágur, winter 2004
Church of Vágur on Suðuroy

The tourist attractions include a wide variety of excursions during the summer. Amongst other things on offer is a boat trip on the old fishing boat, Jóhanna TG 326, west around the island to an area where birds flock and nest by the thousand, close to the world's steepest cliff, Beinisvørð.

Hiking trips are arranged every summer by the Tourist Information.

There is a Ruth Smith Art Museum in Vágur. It doesn't have regular opening hours, but there are phone number which visitors can call to. The Ruth Smith Art Gallery is situated in the western part of the village of Vágur in a yellow building on the mainstreet Vágsvegur 101.[8]

For visitors arriving by boat, Vágur is situated 61° 21' north and 06° 49' west.

Notable landmarks

Eggjarnar

View from Eggjarnar towards north, the western part of Vágur, Vágseiði and the football stadium of FC Suðuroy is visible.

Eggjarnar is high up in the mountains south west of Vágur, a road leads all the way up there, because a Loran C station was built there during World War II.

Vágseiði

Vágseiði was used as a second harbor for the men of Vágur, when the wind came from east and the eastern harbor could not be used. Vágseiði has also been used to dump garbage into the sea, but that stopped many years ago. Now all garbage is gathered and burnt by IRF.

Sports

Vágur had a football club, which was called VB, it was founded in 1905.[9] In 2005 VB merged with Sumba ÍF to VB/Sumba and in 2010 they founded a new football club, which is called FC Suðuroy. But VB is not completely history yet, the VB women still play handball using the name VB. VB is short for Vágs Bóltfelag. Vágur has a famous swimmer, Pál Joensen, a Freestyle swimmer, won 3 gold medals at the 2008 European Junior Swimming Championships. He has also won gold later, swimming with the adults in 2009 in Moscow and 2010 in South Africa. In August 2010 he won silver at the European Swimming Championships on long course.[10] Pál Joensen is swimming with Susvim, which is a swimming club for Suðuroy. There is a rowing club in Vágur, which is called Vágs Kappróðrarfelag. They have wooden rowing boats in all sizes: Vágbingur is a 10-mannafar, Toftaregin is an 8-mannafar, Smyril is a 6-mannafar and Royndin Fríða is a 5-mannafar.[11]

Photos from Vágur

See also

References

  1. Vagur.fo, Shops
  2. Vagur.fo, Vágs Havn (The Harbour)
  3. Flickr.com a photo of a paper from the museum with ship models of
  4. Storapakkhus.com Søgan (The history) in Faroese
  5. Swaney, Deanna (June 1999) [1991]. Iceland, Greenland & the Faroe Islands (3rd edition ed.). Lonely Planet Publications. ISBN 0-86442-453-1. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  6. Portal.fo, 200 ár síðan Nólsoyar Páll doyði (Faroese)
  7. SEV.fo, The Hydro Electric Power Plant in Botnur
  8. RuthSmithSavn.com
  9. ISF.fo (in Faroese)
  10. Omegatiming.com Budapest 2010, Men's 1500m Freestyle
  11. Facebook.com, Vágs Kappróðrarfelag
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vágur.

External links

Look up vágur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.