Overview
About Höfn
A trading house moved to a new harbour
Gamlabúð was built in 1864 at Papós in Lón, an earlier trading place. In 1897 it was moved to Hafnarvík at Höfn, where it served as the principal trading building until 1937. The shop occupied one part of the ground floor, while other spaces stored goods such as grain, coffee and sugar; salt was kept in the cellar. The building later moved again before returning to the harbour in 2012. Its history follows the relocation of commerce and the later preservation of that commercial past.
Fishing and the changing entrance
Fishing drove much of Höfn's twentieth-century growth. The local fleet has worked with several species, and Norway lobster, Nephrops norvegicus, became especially associated with the town's food culture. The harbour requires continuing attention to its entrance: sediment carried and redistributed along the coast makes dredging important for navigation. Höfn's maritime economy therefore depends both on harvesting marine resources and on maintaining a passage through a dynamic coastal environment.
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