Hofn

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Hofn
Hofn (Iceland)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 64 ° 15 ′  N , 15 ° 12 ′  W Coordinates: 64 ° 15 ′  N , 15 ° 12 ′  W
Basic data
Country Iceland

region

Austurland
local community Hornafjordur
Residents 1710 (January 1, 2019)
Iceland Höfn.jpg

Höfn [ hœpn̥ ] (also Höfn í Hornafirði ; German "Port in the Hornfjord") is the main town in the municipality of Hornafjörður in southeast Iceland . On January 1, 2019, the place had 1710 inhabitants.

geography

Vatnajökull glacier tongues near Höfn.
Sandur near Höfn
Aerial view of Höfn

The small town of Höfn is located at the foot of Vatnajökull , 17.5 km southeast of the Fláajökull glacier tongue and around 30 km from the edge of the actual Vatnajökull, on a headland between Hornafjörður and Skarðsfjörður .

history

The history of the city is directly linked to Ottó Tuliníus , who declared Höfn a trading place in 1897.

Culture and sights

The house ( Gamlabúð ), formerly inhabited by Ottó Tuliníus , now houses the local history museum (in the Hafnarbraut). Höfn also has a shipping museum (the Pakkhúsið ). Also worth seeing is the modern, small Catholic church Kirkja Heilagrar fjölskyldu og Heilags Jean-Marie Vianney, which was inaugurated on September 7, 2013 .

One of Höfn's attractions is the Glacier Museum, where films and animations about Vatnajökull can be seen several hours a day ; there are also information boards and glacier diaries.

economy

The main industries of the place include fishing and processing, as well as trade and agriculture. The tourist service industry is also steadily gaining in importance.

Transport and infrastructure

In addition to Þorlákshöfn, which is further to the west, Höfn has the only port on the predominantly agricultural south coast, which is flat for shipping.

Höfn is connected to the Icelandic road network by the five kilometer long Hafnarvegur (road 99). The place is close to the ring road ( Hringvegur ), the main road connecting the country.

The distance to Reykjavík is 459 kilometers, to Egilsstaðir further north it is 247 kilometers.

The nearest airport, Hornafjarðarflugvöllur (English Hornafjörður Airport ; IATA: HFN, ICAO: BIHN), is about 7 km north of the city.

Sons and daughters of Höfn

Town twinning

Web links

Commons : Höfn  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Höfn  - travel guide

Individual evidence

  1. [1] (Icelandic); Accessed July 9, 2015
  2. Website of the municipality on the town twinning ( memento of the original from March 6, 2016 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. (Icelandic); Accessed August 13, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.hornafjordur.is
Panoramic picture of Höfn