Neskaupstaður

Neskaupstaður
Town
View of Neskaupstaður View of Neskaupstaður
Location of the Municipality of Fjarðabyggð Location of the Municipality of Fjarðabyggð
Neskaupstaður Location in Iceland
Coordinates:
Country	Iceland
Constituency	Northeast Constituency
Region	Eastern Region
Municipality	16px Fjarðabyggð
Population (2008)
• Total	1,437
Time zone	GMT (UTC+0)
Website	Official website

Neskaupstaður is a town located on the fjord Norðfjörður on the eastern side of Iceland. It is part of the municipality of Fjarðabyggð and, as of 2014, it has a population of 1,540. Neskaupstaður is the third largest town in Eastern Region. The town was originally built on a farm called "Nes", settled by Egill rauði (“the red”).

The town's location places it further north than Alaskan cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks. The town was also known as "Little Moscow" in the past for its strong socialist background.

History

Until 1949, the town was only accessible by boat. Now it is connected through a 626-meter long single-lane tunnel that passes through the Oddskard mountains. The tunnel is 632 meters above the sea level. The tunnel was built between 1974-1977.

It suffered severe depopulation in the 1990s, but this has been reversed as a result of the building of an aluminum smelter and a new hydroelectric power-plant in East Iceland.

Neskaupstaður joined Eskifjörður and Reyðarfjörður in 1998 to form the new municipality of Fjarðabyggð ("fjords-settlement").

Geography

The other villages composing the municipality are: Eskifjörður (1,043 inh.), Fáskrúðsfjörður (662 inh.), Mjóifjörður (35 inh.), Reyðarfjörður (1,102 inh.) and Stöðvarfjörður (203 inh.).

The 1974 Avalanches

On 20 December 20, 1974, avalanches came from the entire mountainside above the town, killing 12 people. Intense snowfall had been reported in the area over the previous few days. Along with the snow came a strong wind that apparently loosened the snow that had fallen on the mountains. According to some accounts, the first small-scale avalanche actually occurred on 19 December; however, due to low visibility, no-one noticed it. Since the time of the deadly avalanches, a number of protective barriers have been installed with the aim of avoiding future avalanches. Prior to the 1974 avalanche, in 1885 and 1894, two other avalanches had been recorded, with the former causing several deaths in two farms.

Economy

Síldarvinnslan h/f operates one of the most advanced fish processing plants in Europe, it mainly produces fish for human consumption. The company and its partners employ about 220 workers, and the 2010 revenue was USD 128 million.

Tourism

The Museum House(Safnahúsið) located in the center of the town (Egilsbraut 2) houses an art gallery, a natural history museum and a maritime museum under one roof. The art gallery displays a number of paintings by Tryggvi Ólafsson - one of Iceland's most celebrated contemporary artists. The natural history museum hosts an interesting collection of Icelandic mammals, shellfish, birds, insect and stones. The maritime museum houses a number of finishing and boat related old equipment from Josafat Hinriksson family. A small replica of Josafat's workshop is also an interesting part of the museum. The Museum House is open between 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm during June 1 and August 31.

Nordfjardarnipais and the surrounding area became Iceland's first official national park in 1972. Nordfjardarnipais separates Nordfjordur from Mjoifjordur.

The town hosts Iceland's hard rock and heavy metal festival, Eistnaflug, in July. According to a local estimate, approximately 1,800 people attended the festival in 2014. Most of the attendees put up tents at the end of the town.

Nearest airport is Egilsstaðir. The main carrier is Air Iceland with flights to Reykjavík.

Notable Natives

Tryggvi Ólafsson one of Iceland’s best known contemporary artists was born here in 1940.He studied art at the National College of Arts and Crafts in Reykjavik before going to the National Academy Art Academy in Copenhagen.

In Popular Culture

The 2002 Icelandic movie Hafið (The Sea) was filmed almost entirely in and around Neskaupstaður.

Twin towns

• Stavanger (Norway)
• Jyväskylä (Finland)

Photogallery

• Norðfjörður .JPG

  Norðfjörður. Neskaupstaður lies to the extreme right, out of picture

• Neskaupstadur-1.jpg

  Neskaupstaður - Panorama of town

External links

• (Icelandic) Neskaupstaður page on Fjarðabyggð municipal website
• (Icelandic) Official website of the Fjarðabyggð community