Akureyri - Culture



Akureyri sits at the Eyjafjordur Fjord, one of the most breathtaking fjords in all of Iceland. Rising up immediately behind the city are azure farmlands that slope gently up to Granite Mountains. The mountains are capped by snow year round, and in the winter they offer the best skiing in the country.

The town sits only 60 miles from Arctic Circlhas, it has a warm climate and some of the best weather in Iceland. Summer temperature frequently range in the high 60's (20C), making the city the most popular weekend getaway for citizens of Reykjavik.

Akureyri is often called the school town, as it boasts a great many educational establishments, including the second University of Iceland.

Laxdalshus, the town's oldest house that was built in 1795, has been restored and is now protected.

Nonni House was the childhood home of the writer Jon Sveinsson (Nonni). Nonni is best known for his books of his childhood experiences, written for young readers.

Akureyri Church was consecrated in 1940 and dedicated to Matthias Jochumsson, a poet and the author of the Icelandic National Anthem.

In Akureyri Museum there are preserved objects and photographs, which relate to earlier days in Akureyri and the Eyjafjörður District. The exhibitions attempt to present as true an image as possible of local history for information and enjoyment for visitors.

In the museum grounds is a timber church from Svalbarð in Eyjafjörður that was built in 1846. The garden around the museum building began as Iceland's first forestry station with the first planting in 1899.

Don’t miss the Botanical Garden. When the Danish woman Mrs. Anna Schiöth and a few other women of the town began planting in an uncultivated spot, few people believed that trees and flowers could thrive here in this northern latitude. But this spot was later to become the most northerly botanical garden in the world and the pride of Akureyri. About 4000
foreign species are to be found here, including a special collection of the arctic flora.

South of the town the results of the forestry work done by the dedicated members of the local Forestry Association can be enjoyed in the Kjarnaland wood and park.

The new woodland Vaglaskogur can be seen on the east shore of Pollurinn, as the sheltered end of the fjord south of the town is called.