X-Nico

9 unusual facts about Iceland


Árni Magnússon

The character Arnas Arnæus in Nobel prize-winner Halldór Kiljan Laxness's novel Iceland's Bell (Íslandsklukkan) is based on him; the novel concerns the manslaughter case against Jón Hreggviðsson, a farmer whose conviction was eventually reversed in part due to Árni and Vídalín's investigations.

Iceland GeoSurvey

It also aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the Iceland landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research.

Internationale Musische Werkstatt

The organizers of IMWe, known as teamers, are currently a group of scouts from Germany, Austria, Norway, Britain, Slovenia, Hungary and Iceland.

Leiðarhólmsskrá

Leiðarhólmsskrá was an agreement and an open letter to the King, named officials and the whole public, signed by 26 Icelandic chieftains in 1513, protesting ecclesiastical encroachment.

Lögberg

Lögberg, or Law Rock, was a rocky outcrop in south west Iceland, at the location for the assembly of the country's Althing parliament.

Merchant submarine

Its fate was never decisively uncovered, though she may have collided with the British armed merchant cruiser HMS Mantua south of Iceland, as was theorized after the war.

Mormaer of Moray

Njal's Saga was not written as a historical guide for details outside Iceland or Scandinavia and the text is notoriously unreliable.

National Assembly of 1851

The Supreme Court of Iceland invalidated the results of the election on January 25, 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted.

Náttfari

Náttfari escaped from Garðar Svavarsson with a slave and a woman when Garðar set sail to the Hebrides from his newfound land which he named Garðarshólmi, now known as Iceland, in the 9th century.


342d Fighter Day Group

The enemy was on the defensive, and the American defensive outposts in the Atlantic (Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and Bermuda) were shifting to secondary roles.

Á Móti Sól

Most of Á Móti Sól's members come from, and continue to be based out of, the south Iceland region that includes the towns of Hveragerði and Selfoss, about 45 km SE of Reykjavik.

Airspeed Consul

The Consul saw service with small scheduled and charter airlines as feeder liners in Great Britain, and also Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, East Africa and Canada, and was the first type operated by Malayan Airways, the predecessor of Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.

Akureyri Art Museum

Artists that have had their work displayed in the Akureyri Art Museum include Icelandic artists Erró, Kjarval and Louisa Matthíasdóttir, American artist Spencer Tunick, Israeli video artist Guy Ben-Ner and French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Battle Grand Prix

The courses also vary from blacktop to concrete, which lends to the feeling of driving in unique places like Toronto and Iceland.

Bernard Bernard

Bernard Bernard (21 July 1821 in Mogues, France – 1895) was a French Catholic priest and missionary in Norway, Iceland and Scotland.

Bone Symphony

The group consisted of Scott Wilk on lead vocals and synthesizer, Marc Levinthal (guitar, bass synthesizer and sequencer, drum machine, 808 programming) and keyboard artist Jacob Magnusson (Iceland).

Borgarhreppur

Borgarhreppur was formerly a rural parish (hreppur) in Mýrasýsla county, west Iceland, named after the ancient farm and church estate Borg á Mýrum which was occupied by Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson, one of Iceland's original settlers.

Changer

Changer was founded in October 1999 in Akureyri, Iceland, by drummer Kristján B. Heiðarsson, as a one-man project.

City Star Airlines

City Star Airlines started operations on 28 March 2005 with one aircraft flying between Aberdeen, Scotland (Aberdeen Airport) and Oslo (Oslo Gardermoen Airport) in cooperation with and on the AOC of domestic airline Landsflug in Iceland.

Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson

During the years leading up to his first solo release Daníel was heavily involved in Iceland’s contribution to the Venice Biennale in 2005.

Einarr Hafliðason

He became a priest in 1334 with the benefice of Höskuldsstaðir á Skagaströnd and in 1343 the Archbishop of Nidaros granted him Breiðabólstaður í Vesturhópi, one of the best farms in the region, in what is now Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla, in Northern Iceland.

Eistnaflug

Eistnaflug is an indoor festival situated in Neskaupstaður, a quaint little town located on the Norðfjörður fjord on the Eastern coast of Iceland, 700km away from Reykjavik

First cabinet of Davíð Oddsson

Sighvatur Kristinn Björgvinsson replaced Jón Sigurðsson as Minister of Commerce and Minister of Industry.

Flora Danica

The original plan was to cover all plants, including bryophytes, lichens and fungi native to crown lands of the Danish king, that is Denmark, Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg-Delmenhorst and Norway with its North Atlantic dependencies Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

H-dagurinn

H-dagurinn or Hægri dagurinn (Icelandic: H-day or Right day) on 26 May 1968 is the day that Iceland changed from left hand traffic to right hand traffic.

Haukur Halldórsson

Haukur Halldórsson (The Hawk) was born 1937 in Reykjavík is an Icelandic artist and member of the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið.

Hidebound

During fairs and festivals in Reykjavík, Iceland, members of the general public where offered to help in making of the film by tracing their own style the people from these print-outs.

Hilmar Grétarsson

Hilmar Grétarsson (born March 8, 1982) is an Icelandic newspaper publisher best known for founding the Reykjavík-based, English language Reykjavik Grapevine with Jón Trausti Sigurðarson and Valur Gunnarsson.

Hirtshals

It has also been possible since autumn 2010 to travel to Tórshavn on the Faroe Islands and to Seyðisfjörður on Iceland with Smyril Line.

Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, Iceland was drawn to compete in the first half of the first semi-final on 6 May 2014.

Icelandic outvasion

In 2005 a group of Danish journalists found that Thor Björgólfsson, his father Björgólfur Guðmundsson and friend Magnús Þorsteinsson all have background in Russia, where they ran beverage businesses in the 1990s before moving to Iceland.

Jakob Yngvason

Yngvason was assistant professor at the University of Göttingen 1973–1978, 1978–1985 research scientist at the Science Institute of the University of Iceland and 1985–1996 professor of theoretical physics at the University of Iceland.

Keyta

Keyta was used instead of soap in Iceland before it was introduced there.

Kristján Örn Sigurðsson

Kristján Örn Sigurðsson (often spelled Sigurdsson) (born 7 October 1980 in Akureyri) is an Icelandic footballer.

Landvarnarflokkurinn

The founders of Landvarnarflokkurinn, who included Einar Benediktsson, Bjarni Jónsson and Jón Jensson, were the most radical fighters for Iceland's independence of that time.

Luca Toni

He consequently gained his first cap for the Italian national team in a friendly match 18 August 2004 lost 2–0 to Iceland in Reykjavík, which also marked Marcello Lippi's debut at the helm of the Azzurri.

Magnús Eiríksson

Magnús Eiríksson (22 June 1806 in Skinnalón (Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla), Iceland – 3 July 1881 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was an Icelandic theologian and a contemporary critic of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813–1855) and Hans Lassen Martensen (1808–1884) in Copenhagen.

MaJiKer

The album was recorded in Valgeir Sigurdsson's Greenhouse Studios, and in a remote summer house on a mountain in Laugarvatn, Iceland.

New Island

A transport vessel and a whale catcher arrived on 22 December and brought a decommissioned land station from Fáskrúðsfjörður in Iceland.

No. 271 Squadron RAF

For a while the Squadron operated a detached flight at RAF Wick running a regular service to Reykjavík in Iceland using de Havilland DH.91

Pétur Pétursson

Guðlaugur Pétur Pétursson (born 27 June 1959 in Akranes) is a retired Icelandic footballer who was active as a forward.

Prince Rajcomar

Valur, then champions of Iceland, made an approach to sign Rajcomar during the 2008 transfer window, but Breiðablik UBK declined, saying he was not for sale.

Randy Bolden

After his collegiate career ended, Bolden played professionally for teams in Iceland (Grindavík), Brazil (Londrina), and Canada (Saskatchewan Hawks).

Reistu þig við, sólin er komin á loft...

Reistu þig við, sólin er komin á loft... has been sold out in Iceland for a while and has been sold in over 5000 copies all over the world, many of them on their Sigur Rós support tour in November 2008.

Second cabinet of Davíð Oddsson

Halldór Ásgrímsson replaced Guðmundur Kristján Bjarnason as Minister for the Environment and Minister of Agriculture.

Símun Samuelsen

Símun Samuelsen (born 21 May 1985 in Vágur) is a Faroese football striker currently playing for HB Tórshavn after playing in Iceland for some years for Keflavik as a right or left winger but can also play as a second striker.

Skalla-Grímr

Skalla-Grímr did as his father directed, and when he arrived in Iceland, he discovered the casket had come ashore in the Mýrar district, near Borg.

Steingrímur

Steingrímur Steinþórsson (1893–1966), Prime Minister of Iceland from 14 March 1950 to 11 September 1953

Sveinn Björnsson

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, he was a member of the Althing in 1914–1916 and 1920, and after Iceland's independence from Denmark in 1918 he acted as minister to Denmark during 1920–1924 and 1926–1940.

Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson

In 2007 he participated with 2 entries : "Draumur" performed by Hreimur Örn Heimisson which did not qualify for the national final and with "Ég les í lófa þínum" performed by Eiríkur Hauksson which took first place and represented Iceland in Helsinki under the name "Valentine Lost".

There's a Star

Mark explains the original plan for the video: "We're off to Iceland to shoot it up in the mountains, imagine vast area covered in snow, think Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, we're all dressed Han Solo style with Rebel Alliance logos with rescue flares going up in the night and we're gonna comes across 'Snow Jawas'. Whilst Tim makes a quest across the snow scape searching for his "Flying V" just in time for the solo. How epic".

Third cabinet of Davíð Oddsson

Valgerður Sverrisdóttir replaced Finnur Ingólfsson as Minister of Commerce and Minister of Industry.

Tómas Ingi Olrich replaced Björn Bjarnason as Minister of Education, Science and Culture.

Turkish Abductions

This event is popularly known in Iceland as Tyrkjaránið – the 'Turkish Raid', as it was launched from areas within the Ottoman Empire, although no Turks are known to have been involved.

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

In 1993 the work Mitt Folk commissioned by the British government by Oliver Kentish was dedicated to her as a gift from Britain to Iceland celebrating the 50th anniversary of the republic.

Violeta Chamorro

Chamorro was the first elected female head of state in the Americas, the second in the Western Hemisphere after Iceland's Vigdís Finnbogadóttir and the fifth in the world after the elections of Agatha Barbara in Malta, Elisabeth Kopp in Switzerland and Corazon Aquino in the Philippines.

Xavier Gil

Gil made his debut on 21 August 2002, coming on as a substitute for Justo Ruiz in a 3–0 friendly match defeat against Iceland.

Þorri

The pagan sacrifice of Þorrablót disappeared with the Christianization of Iceland, but in the 19th century, a midwinter festival called Þorrablót was introduced in Romantic nationalism, and is still popular in contemporary Iceland, since the 1960s associated with a selection of traditional food, called Þorramatur.


see also

1948 Winter Olympics

Chile, Denmark, Iceland, Korea, and Lebanon all made their Winter Olympic debut at these Games.

2008 Icelandic lorry driver protests

The 2008 Icelandic lorry driver protests were protests started by lorry drivers in Iceland through March−April 2008.

Andy Mutch

Mutch’s goal-scoring prowess was recognised by a call-up to the England B squad in 1989 - making three appearances against Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.

Angela Rawlings

As an arts educator, rawlings has led creative writing workshops for Ryerson University, terminus1525.ca, Learning through the Arts, League of Canadian Poets, Ontario Arts Council's Artists in Education Program, the Toronto District School Board, Writers in Electronic Residence, the Toronto Public Library system, the State Library of Queensland (Australia), Menningarverkefnið Hlaðan (Vogar, Iceland), and Listaháskólinn Íslands (Reykjavík, Iceland).

Auseklis Limbazi Theatre

Production of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Play Strindberg went to Belgium, Estonia and Lithuania, Sławomir Mrożek's At Sea travelled to Denmark, Iceland and Lithuania, Inga Abele's Dzelzzāle (Iron Weed) had its premiere in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Baldur Sigurðsson

Baldur Sigurðsson (born 24 April 1985) is an Icelandic footballer, former player for Norwegian Adeccoligaen club Bryne and Icelandic clubs Völsungur and Keflavík.

European Network Against Racism

The European Network Against Racism (ENAR) is an EU-wide network of NGOs in all European Union Member States and Iceland.

First cabinet of Davíð Oddsson

Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson replaced Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir as Minister of Social Affairs.

Flag of the Nordic Council

The Swan has enough wing feathers standing for the eight members and territories of the Council: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Hallgrímur Helgason

His best-known works are 101 Reykjavík, which was made into a popular film of the same name, Höfundur Íslands (The Author of Iceland), which won the Icelandic Literary Prize in 2001, and The Hitman's Guide to House Cleaning.

Hannes Sigurðsson

Hannes Þorsteinn Sigurðsson (born 10 April 1983 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic football player.

Harpalus affinis

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Novaya Zemlya, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Harpalus anxius

In Europe, it is only absent in the following countries or islands: Andorra, the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Channel Islands, Crete, Cyclades, Cyprus, Dodecanese, the Faroe Islands, Franz Josef Land, Gibraltar, Iceland, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, the North Aegean islands, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Portugal, San Marino, the Savage Islands, Sicily, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, and Vatican City.

Hofn Air Station

The Greenland, Iceland and United Kingdom air defense sector, better known as the GIUK gap, was routinely utilized by the Soviet Union's long range heavy bombers and maritime reconnaissance platforms as a transit point towards the Atlantic Ocean.

Hraunhreppur

Hraunhreppur was formerly a rural parish (hreppur) in Mýrasýsla county, west Iceland.

Iceland at the 1984 Winter Olympics

Iceland competed at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.

Jón Sveinsson

Jón "Nonni" Stefán Sveinsson (16 November 1857, near Akureyri - 16 October 1944, Cologne) was an Icelandic children's writer and member of the Society of Jesus.

Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir

Nanna was raised in Garður, a town in southwestern Iceland where her bandmate and close school friend Brynjar Leifsson also resided.

Nepal eMission

Nepal eMission is a software from Nepal Software, Borgarnes, Iceland, used to record lectures and seminars.

Obrigado Saudade

Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, a former member of the Icelandic band Múm, makes a notable appearance in "Two, Three, Fall" and "Spain".

Screaming Masterpiece

The film itself shows mostly live performances and interviews by some of Iceland's biggest musicians, including Björk, Sigur Rós, Slowblow, múm, Ghostigital, Quarashi, Singapore Sling amongst others, over the backdrop of Icelandic scenery.

Skjálfandafljót

At the north end of Sprengisandur road, the river drops down 10 m over the waterfall Aldeyjarfoss, in the lowlands, very near Route 1 there is another waterfall, Goðafoss which is among the most famous waterfalls in Iceland.

Stefán Karl Stefánsson

Stefán Karl Stefánsson (born 10 July 1975 in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland) is an Icelandic film and stage actor who is best known for playing the character Robbie Rotten on the television show LazyTown.

Tom Wessels

In addition to teaching at Antioch, Wessels has traveled on expedition to Iceland with Haraldur Sigurdsson.

V.I.S.A. Présente

This release included 14 tracks by experimental groups from the European alternative scene, including KUKL, an Icelandic group led by singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir next to second vocalist and trumpet player Einar Örn Benediktsson, Rubella Ballet, Lucrate Milk and more.

W. D. Valgardson

Thor teikningar eftir Ange Zhang; Guðrun B. Guðsteinsdóttir,Íslenkaði—Seltjarnarnes Iceland: Ormstunga, 1996

Wilhelm Junker

After a series of short journeys to Iceland (1869), Western Africa (1873), Tunis (1874) and Lower Egypt (1875), he remained almost continuously in eastern Equatorial Africa from 1875 to 1886, making first Khartoum and afterwards Lado the base of his expeditions.