Borgarnes
| Borgarnes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 64 ° 32 ′ N , 21 ° 55 ′ W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Iceland | ||
| Vesturland | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | IS-3 | ||
| local community | Borgarbyggð | ||
| Residents | 2012 (January 1, 2019) | ||
 Borgarnes, view from the water tower in west direction
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Borgarnes [ ˈpɔrkarˌnɛˑs ] ( Eng . "Rock peninsula") on Borgarfjörður is an Icelandic town in the municipality of Borgarbyggð in the Vesturland region .
On January 1, 2019, the city had 2012 residents. With its shops and shopping malls, schools and offices as well as a health center, the place forms the center of the region.
Story and sagas
The area has been populated since the time of the conquest. At that time the peninsula on which the town stands today was called Digranes .
The land acquisition book , but also the sagas, serve as sources .
Borgarnes is considered to be the hometown of the poet and saga hero Egill Skallagrímsson , to whom memorials have also been set in several sculptural works. The most famous one was created by Ásmundur Sveinsson and stands in front of the hamlet of Borg á Mýrum , where Egill is said to have lived. Egil's adventures are recorded in the Egils saga . According to the land register, his father Skalla-Grímur was one of the first settlers in the area and was their most influential.
The place Borgarnes itself is based on a trading center and fish processing. The first houses in the village were built by the Scotsman James Richie in Englendingavík in 1857 to process salmon . There are many salmon rivers in the Borgarnes area. The best known are Norðurá (Hvítá) and Grímsá .
From 1929 a port was built in Borgarnes. It became an important hub. Until the bridge was built, they took the boat to Borgarnes and from there by car.
The church in the village dates from 1959, before that the one in Borg á Mýrum was also used as such by the people from Borgarnes.
The formerly independent municipality of Borgarnes ( isl. Borgarnesbær ) formed the new municipality of Borgarbyggð from 11 June 1994 together with the three rural municipalities of Norðurárdalshreppur ( Norðurárdalshreppur ), Stafholtstunga ( Stafholtstungnahreppur ) and Hraun ( Hraunhreppur ) .
Culture and sights
In the small park Skallagrímsgarður, which is lovingly cared for by the students from the surrounding schools in summer, you can see the grave of Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson , the first settler in the area, and a sculpture of his son Egill Skallagrímsson with the drowned son Böðvar in his arms.
Between the park and the island of Brákarey , named after Egill's nanny , which is connected to the mainland by a bridge, is the Land Collection Center Museum ( Landnámssetrið ). As the name suggests, it vividly shows the history of the settlement of Iceland. Another permanent exhibition is dedicated to Egill Skallagrímsson. Headphones explain the exhibitions in various languages, including a. in German. The museum director, actor and musician Kjartan Ragnarsson is the son of the sculptor Ragnar Kjartansson , who came from Staðarstadur on Snæfellsnes and u. a. the local sculpture of the medieval scholar Ari Fróði created - and the brother of the painter and sculptor Inga Ragnarsdóttir , who lives in Kempten (Allgäu) . In the top floor of the museum there is a popular cabaret theater, where mainly scenes from the sagas of the area, such as the Egils saga, were acted out or recited, etc. a. the Sturlungar saga by the writer Einar Kárason .
At various places in Borgarnes and the surrounding area, which are linked to scenes from the Egils saga, cairns have been set up, e.g. B. at Brákarsund and at the campsite, where according to Saga Egill's father wanted to kill his son in a fit of anger after a lost ball game.
If you follow the coast from Landnámssetrið to the north (right), you come to an idiosyncratic playground called Bjössaróló . It is one of the first known cases of recycling in Iceland. The craftsman Björn Guðmundsson created the original playground equipment such as swings, fortresses, etc. using leftover or recycled material according to his own designs.
A little further north is the small Englendingavík bay . The old trading houses from the 19th century have been restored there. They once belonged to Kaupfélag Borgfirðinga and in them the German puppeteer and builder Bernd Ogrodnik set up a puppet museum called Brúðuheimur . He also set up a puppet theater there.
Transport links
The city is reached from the direction of Reykjavík on the Hringvegur 
over the second longest bridge in the country. The bridge measures 520 m and crosses the Borgarfjörður fjord . It entered service in 1980.
Borgarnes is a transport hub. The Hringvegur represents the connection to the north to Akureyri , but also to the Westfjords . To the south it is about 65 km to the capital Reykjavík. In Borgarnes you can turn off to the west on Snæfellsnesvegur 
. To the northeast, however, there are several ways to get to Reykholtsdalur and further to Húsafell and the Langjökull glacier . From Húsafell, on the other hand, it goes over highland slopes to the plateau of Arnarvatnsheiði with its many fishing lakes or via the Kaldidalur slope to Þingvellir .
For tourists, the city is also a good starting point for excursions to Snæfellsnes .
Numerous bus connections lead to Reykjavík, Akureyri and further to the west of the country to Snæfellsnes and Ísarfjörður.
Economy and Services
The city is an economic and service center for the west of Iceland.
It has numerous shops, hotels and restaurants. Many smaller craft businesses are located in Borgarnes.
But you can also find various kindergartens, a comprehensive school ( Grunnskóli ) and a secondary school ( Menntaskóli ), a retirement home, a health center with medical care, as well as offices and other administrative facilities.
There are also sports fields and a swimming pool, a golf course and riding stables.
Iceland is on the way to becoming an offshoot of Hollywood . In September 2012, for example, 200 temporary jobs were created for the filming of the new film by actor Ben Stiller The Secret Life of Walter Mitty . a. in Borgarnes and near Grundarfjörður .
Water supply
The water supply in Borgarnes is something special. The cold water comes partly from Hafnarfjall and from there under the bridge over the fjord Borgarfjörður, partly from the area of Bifröst , the hot water is directed over 35 km from the spring Deildartunguhver to Borgarnes.
Town twinning
-
Dragsholm , Denmark -
Falkenberg , Sweden -
Leirvík , Faroe Islands -
Phitihupudas , Finland -
Ullensaker , Norway
Daughters and sons of the city
- Egill Skallagrímsson (910 - approx. 990)
- Veturliði Óskarsson (* 1958), philologist
- Gísli Einarsson , journalist
photos
View from the church to the city and the fjord
Borgarnes, in the background the extinct volcano Hafnarfjall
The historic hamlet of Borg near Borgarnes
See also
Web links
- Off. Website, West Iceland (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Íslandshandbókin. 1. bindi. 1989, bls. 127
- ↑ a b c d Landmælingar Íslands (Ed.): Vegahandbókin . 2007, p. 55
- ↑ cf. National Association of Fishing Clubs http://angling.is/en/waters/salmon-rivers/on-the-west-coast/6339/ Accessed: May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. Museum homepage: Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. Tonlist.is: Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed May 27, 2010
- ↑ not to be confused with the 1976 born. Artist of the 2009 Biennale; see. Obituary in Morgunblaðið: http://www.mbl.is/mm/gagnasafn/grein.html?grein_id=22210– Accessed: May 27, 2010
- ↑ http://english.umm.is/UMMenglish/Artists/Abouttheartist/197 Accessed: May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. http://www.griman.is/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=708:stormar-og-styrjaldir-sturlunga-einars-karasonar&catid=39:svirk-2009-10&Itemid=128 Accessed: May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. Icelandic State Radio and Television, News: http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20100521090034/www.ruv.is/frett/bruduheimar-i-borgarnesi Accessed May 27, 2010
- ↑ cf. Pressan.is: http://www.pressan.is/Barnapressan/Lesa_Barnapressuna/bruduheimar-i-borgarnesi--kaffi-brudur-og-born-ad-leik Access: May 27, 2010
- ↑ Landmælingar Íslands (Ed.): Vegahandbókin. 2006, p. 55
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. RÚV, Kastljós, Ben Stiller á Íslandi , September 5, 2012; accessed: September 11, 2012 (with an English-language documentary interview in Borgarnes)
- ↑ http://www.ruv.is/frett/ben-stiller-uti-a-tuni RÚV, Fréttir, Ben Stiller úti á túni , August 27, 2012; accessed: September 11, 2012
- ↑ Íslandshandbókin. 1. bindi. 1989, bls. 128
