Bíldudalur

Bíldudalur
Coordinates	65 ° 41 ′ N , 23 ° 36 ′ W Coordinates: 65 ° 41 ′ N , 23 ° 36 ′ W
Basic data
Country	Iceland
region	Vestfirdir
ISO 3166-2	IS-4
local community	Vesturbyggð
Residents	208 (January 1, 2019)
	Bíldudalur, seen from the east

View from the south

Selárdalskirkja

Bíldudalur is a small fishing village in the municipality of Vesturbyggð in the Icelandic region of Vestfirðir . On January 1, 2012, it had 168 inhabitants.

geography

Bíldudalur is located in the Bíldudalsvogur bay on Arnarfjörður .

Transport links

From Vestfjarðavegur , which connects the Breiðafjörður and the ferry terminal Brjánslækur with the north of the Westfjords, the Bíldudalsvegur branches off at the Helluskarð pass down to Bíldudalur. However, it is not a dead end road, but leads from Bíldudalur to Tálknafjörður and Patreksfjörður , from where Barðastrandarvegur goes back to Brjánslækur via Kleifaheiði . In addition, the Ketildalavegur runs from Bíldudalur to the northwest to Selárdalur. Bíldudalur airfield is about eight kilometers away .

history

The place gradually formed around a trading post of the Danes, which was built here after the introduction of monopoly trade at the beginning of the 17th century. The assigned area of the Bíldudalur dealer extended north to the south coast of Arnarfjörður and to the east even to Þórskafjörður, the side fjord of northeastern Breiðafjörður .

In the 19th century, the place flourished due to commercial initiatives and fishing. Ólafur Thorlacius (1761-1815) bought in Bíldudalur after the end of the Danish trade monopoly. He was one of the most influential merchants in Iceland at the beginning of the 19th century, buying and selling fish and trading goods and running his own small fishing fleet. One of his successors, Pétur J. Thorsteinnsson (1854–1924) continued this successfully.

Even today, the remote place lives mainly from fishing and specializes in catching and processing crabs. The port was improved in the late 1960s and is considered to be conveniently located.

The local church was transported there from Otradal in 1906 . There are some church treasures from the 17th and 18th centuries.

The municipality Bíldudalur ( Bíldudalshreppur ) went together with other municipalities on June 11, 1994 in the municipality Vesturbyggð .

Tourist attractions

In the village there is a museum of Icelandic pop music ( Mélodíur minninganna ).

Opposite the place is the fjord Geirþjófsfjörður , which is important for literary history .

In Selárdalur you can find the recently renovated works of art by Samúel Jónsson , who z. B. recreated the lion fountain of the Alhambra in a naive style.

Population development

The place has recently been severely affected by rural exodus. On January 1, 2019, it had 208 inhabitants. In 1989 Bíldudalur still had 397 inhabitants.

Further population figures:

1997: 279
2000: 261
2005: 218

Web links

Commons : Bíldudalur - collection of images, videos and audio files

http://www.nat.is/travelguideeng/bildudalur.htm Bildudalur at nat.is (English)

Individual evidence

^ Hagstofa (Stat. Office of Iceland) (Icelandic); accessed: September 7, 2012
↑ Vegahandbókin . Ed. Landmælingar Íslands, 2006, 311
↑ Vegahandbókin. Ed. Landmælingar Íslands, 2006, 319
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Íslandshandbókin. Náttúra, saga og sérkenni. 1. bindi. Edited by T. Einarsson, H. Magnússon. Örn og Örlygur, Reykjavík 1989, 222
↑ Museums in the Westfjords (English). Retrieved August 19, 2019 .

[1] Hagstofa (Stat. Office of Iceland) (Icelandic); accessed: September 7, 2012

[2] Vegahandbókin . Ed. Landmælingar Íslands, 2006, 311

[3] Vegahandbókin. Ed. Landmælingar Íslands, 2006, 319

[Ísl-4] Íslandshandbókin. Náttúra, saga og sérkenni. 1. bindi. Edited by T. Einarsson, H. Magnússon. Örn og Örlygur, Reykjavík 1989, 222

[5] Museums in the Westfjords (English). Retrieved August 19, 2019 .