Koltur (Island)

Heimi í Húsi on Koltur with two residential houses, outbuildings and a boat house represents the Faroese farming community around 1870. The restoration began in the 1980s and was completed in 2012 with the support of The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation. ÓLAVUR FREDERIKSEN, 2015

The 2.3-km² island of Koltur covers 17 merkur of copyhold land and has no permanent residents. The sheep herd consists of 160 animals. Since 2015, Koltur has been part of Tjóðsavnið (the Faroe Islands National Museum), which manages the island as an openair museum.

In 2013, management of the island of Koltur passed to Tjóðsavnið, which actively works with conservation, research and dissemination of the cultural and naturalhistorical values on the island. With its 230 ha, Koltur is the smallest inhabited island in the Faroe Islands; a habitation which can be traced back to the Viking Age.

With its restored residential houses, outbuildings and boathouse, Heimi í Húsi, which is the island’s original býlingur (neighbourhood), is a particularly wellpreserved example of the old farming community. The newer neighbourhood Norðri í Gerði is located further north on the island. This is where you will find the Gróthústangi isthmus, named after the outbuildings (gróthús) used to store fuel peat and foodstuffs. In the infield, which is bounded by stone fences, the distinctive teigalendi (grain fields) can be seen, which in 1995 became part of an extensive conservation project involving buildings and cultural landscape at Koltur.

Further reading

Read more about The islands, towns and settlements

  • Jóan Pauli Joensen

    (b. 1945) D.Phil. in History and D.Phil. in Ethnology. Professor Emeritus and adjunct professor at the University of the Faroe Islands and former rector of the University of the Faroe Islands.