Velbastaður (Settlement)

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur
Ring from Velbastaður in gold-plated silver, decorated with the Christian symbols grapes and a cross. It was found in connection with the study of the village’s small church ruin with a round cemetery. The ring dates to the late Viking Age or early Middle Ages. FINNUR JUSTINUSSEN, 2016

Velbastaður covers 32 merkur of copyhold land distributed between seven copyhold tenants. The village, which has 242 inhabitants, is a distinct agricultural village with two dairy farms. The sheep herd consists of 830 animals.

Velbastaður shares a church and cemetery with Kirkjubøur, and the two villages formerly constituted one municipality. The village has grown considerably in recent years because many people who work elsewhere have settled here.

The Faroe Islands’ oldest existing youth organisation, Sólarmagn, founded in 1895, had its own assembly hall of the same name in 1951, which is shared by Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur.

The village had its first school in 1905 and a new one in 2000. The school offers classes for the youngest pupils and covers both Velbastaður and Kirkjubøur. The village also has the free school Tórshavnar Frískúli.

The Heilbrigdið treatment centre for people with alcohol and drug addiction opened in 1986.

Since 1992, the Gamlarætt ferry berth has been located between Kirkjubøur and Velbastaður. From here the ferries sail to Skopun and Hestur. The future undersea tunnel between Streymoy and Sandoy will also have its starting point here.

The singer and composer Teitur Lassen lives in Velbastaður.

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.