Hveragerði

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Town in Iceland

title: "Hveragerði" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["municipalities-of-iceland", "populated-places-in-southern-region-(iceland)"] description: "Town in Iceland" topic_path: "general/municipalities-of-iceland" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hveragerði" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Town in Iceland ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
name	Hveragerðisbær
settlement_type	Municipality
image_skyline	Hveragerdi10.JPG
imagesize	250px
image_caption	View from Hellisheiði down over Hveragerði
shield_size	85px
image_map	Hveragerdi map.png
map_caption	Location of Hveragerðisbær
mapsize	250px
pushpin_map	Iceland
coordinates
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Iceland
subdivision_type1	Region
subdivision_name1	Southern Region
subdivision_type2	Constituency
subdivision_name2	South Constituency
leader_title1	Manager
leader_name1	Geir Sveinsson
unit_pref	Metric
area_total_km2	9
population_total	2,657
population_density_km2	295.22
postal_code_type	Postal code(s)
postal_code	810
code1_name	Municipal number
code1_info	8716
website
::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Hveragerdihouse.JPG" caption="Greenhouses in Hveragerði"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Leirgerður1-10.jpg" caption="Hot spring area [[Leirgerður]], lively again since 2008"] ::

Hveragerði (, "hot-spring yard") is a town and municipality in the south of Iceland, 45 km east of Reykjavík on Iceland's main ringroad, Route 1. The river Varmá runs through the town. With an area of 9 km2, Hveragerði is the third smallest municipality in Iceland by size.

Overview

The surrounding area is part of the Hengill central volcano, and is geothermally active and experiences very frequent (usually minor) earthquakes. The town is known for its greenhouses, which are heated by hot water from volcanic hot springs. The first greenhouse was built in 1923. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, that are capable of surviving in extremely hot environments. Close to the church is a hot spring called Sandhólshver (, "sand hill hot-spring"), formed during the violent South Iceland earthquake of 1896. A fenced-off geothermal area in the town has numerous hot springs and fumaroles.

Hveragerði contains a number of greenhouses and is a hotbed for Icelandic horticulture.

To the south of Hveragerði, there is the small port of Þorlákshöfn, winter point of departure for the ferry to the Westman Islands.

History

Water from hot springs has been used for heating in this area since 1929. Hveragerði had 121 inhabitants in 1940 and 399 in 1946. Hveragerði was awarded municipal status (kaupstaðuréttindi) on 1 July 1987. In 1989 the town had 1.593 inhabitants. On 29 May 2008 people were injured and many buildings in Hveragerði and its surroundings were damaged by a earthquake.

Buildings and Culture

Hveragerðiskirkja, a modern Protestant church, was built 1967–72. Listasafn Árnesinga is a museum of arts founded in 1963 where about 500 pieces of art are exhibited. The exhibition Skjálftinn 2008 in Sunnumörk shopping centre refers to the earthquake of 2008. The town has one of Iceland's two largest swimming pools, called Laugaskarð, tied with Laugardalslaug in Reykjavik, which has two 50 m long swimming pools.

Parks

Hveragarðurinn is a park with various hot springs and fumaroles and information boards providing explanations on the occurrence. In Lystigarðurinn Fossflöt, a park which was founded in 1983, a hydroelectric power station can be visited which was built as early as 1902 beside the waterfall Reykjafoss.

Sport

The local football club is Hamar, competing in the 4. deild karla, the fifth tier of the Icelandic football league system.

Twin towns – sister cities

Hveragerði is twinned with:

FIN Äänekoski, Finland
DEN Ikast-Brande, Denmark
SWE Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
NOR Sigdal, Norway
GER Tarp, Germany

Climate

References

Ove Lind: ''Island'', p. 190. Stockholm 1972.
Sveinn Þórðarson og Þorgils Jónasson: „Um hitaveitur á Íslandi“, p. 24
Sveinn Þórðarson og Þorgils Jónasson: „Um hitaveitur á Íslandi“, p. 25
Vilhelm G. Kristinsson: ''Íslensk Samtíð'', p. 193. Reykjavík 1990
Vilhelm G. Kristinsson: ''Íslensk Samtíð'', p. 192. Reykjavík 1990
(27 May 2020). "Hveragerðiskirkja - NAT ferðavísir".
"LÁ ART MUSEUM".
"Skjálftinn 2008".
"Hveragarðurinn".
"Lystigarðurinn Fossflöt".
"Vinabæir". Hveragerði.
"Climate Averages for Reykir í Ölfusi". [[Icelandic Meteorological Office]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::