Hellissandur
| Hellissandur | |||
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| Coordinates | 64 ° 55 ' N , 23 ° 53' W | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Iceland | ||
| Vesturland | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | IS-3 | ||
| local community | Snæfellsbær | ||
| Residents | 355 (January 1, 2019) | ||
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The village of Hellissandur is located in the west of Iceland and belongs to the municipality of Snæfellsbær .
The role of fishing
Hellissandur is a small fishing village. Fishing has a long tradition here. Already in the Middle Ages there was a fishing village here because of the rich fishing grounds nearby, and according to the sources it was probably the first village in Iceland. In the old days the women stood on the quay when the boats came back and the men all had to stand on deck so you could see no one was missing. The woman with the best eyes (later the best binoculars) was asked whether her own husband was also there. There is also a fishing museum in town.
Snæfellsnes ship cemetery
The coast around the tip of Snæfellsnes is considered a ship graveyard . In the 17th century there were 300 deaths on this stretch of coast alone, in the 18th century 400. Between 1892 and 1895 five large ships were stranded here and 28 seamen died between 1910 and 1920. The remains of an English trawler that ran aground here in the 1930s can still be found scattered across the sand at Djúpalónssandur . They are now under monument protection.
Irish buildings?
There are interesting and enigmatic monuments from the Middle Ages in the area. Irish monks are said to have built the Fiskbirgir , an "Irish" well (isl. Irskur brunnur ) existed, but can no longer be found, but the Fálki well near Öndverðarnes invites you to a little scramble into the depths.
Gufuskálar transmitter
In the immediate vicinity of the village of Hellissandur there has been a transmission system for long wave since 1959, the 412-meter-high Gufuskálar transmission mast , which was erected in the same year, is the tallest structure in Western Europe. This transmitter system was used by the US Army for radio navigation from 1959 to the mid-1990s . Today it is used by Icelandic radio to broadcast a radio program in the long wave range .
The former US military facility has electromagnetically shielded residential buildings. The Icelandic National Park Agency UST uses the site, just like the Icelandic rescue organization ICE-SAR has set up a training center for earthquake exercises on the site.