Við Áir

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur
The whaling station við Áir on Streymoy in October 1946. ERIK PETERSEN/RITZAU SCANPIX

The Norwegian whaling station við Áir was established between Hósvík and Hvalvík in 1906. It passed to Faroese owners in 1936. The last large whale was shot and flensed at the station in 1986, and the whaling station is the only one left of Norwegian origin in the northern hemisphere. It is currently under restoration and will be preserved as a historical monument.

In addition to the whaling station, við Áir has a rehabilitation school for adults, a fire brigade school and the Aquaculture Research Station, Fiskaaling.

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.