Uummannaq Island
Interesting facts
- In 1972 eight remarkably preserved mummies of six adults and two children, dating from around 1475, were found at Qilakitsoq in the Uummannaq area.
- Uummannaq's church, raised in 1935 from granite blocks cut on the spot, is one of very few stone churches in Greenland.
- The town was founded as a Danish colony in 1763, under the old spelling Omenak.
- The sun stays below the horizon here from early November to early February, while the midnight sun shines from mid-May to late July.
- Alfred Wegener, the scientist behind continental drift, came to Uummannaq in 1929 while preparing his last, fatal expedition onto the Greenland ice sheet.
- Parts of Arnold Fanck's 1932 mountain film S.O.S. Eisberg were shot in and around Uummannaq.
- The town is home to a music project that runs what it bills as the world's northernmost music stage on sea ice.
- Scottish singer KT Tunstall visited in 2008, and the trip inspired the track Uummannaq Song on her album Tiger Suit.
- A traditional turf house, lived in until 1980, still stands in the town, built according to the old principles of turf construction.
- With about 1,400 residents, Uummannaq ranks roughly eighth among Greenland's towns by population.
Why it is worth it
A heart-shaped mountain of granite and gneiss rises sheer out of the fjord ice, and at its foot, on the island's southern tip, the houses of a small Arctic town cling to bare rock. Uummannaq Island lies in the Uummannaq Fjord system of north-western Greenland, some 590 km north of the Arctic Circle, and its twin-summited peak is among the most recognisable landmarks in the country.
The island is small, about 12 square kilometres, and almost entirely rock. Its northern half is occupied by the base of Uummannaq Mountain, which climbs to 1,170 metres; the two summits are of similar height, the eastern one slightly higher, and the Greenlandic name, meaning "heart-shaped", comes from this double profile. The mountain is the most prominent on the Arctic stretch of Greenland's west coast. Its eastern face falls in one uniform cliff into Assorput Strait, the summits are separated by deep gullies, and the upper slopes are reachable only by technical climbing. South of the mountain lies a plateau of folded rock hills dotted with small lakes, including Tasersuaq and the Blue Lake, which supply the town with water. Across the water rise the high, glaciated mountains of the Nuussuaq Peninsula, and to the north lie Appat Island and the skerries of Saattut.
The town of Uummannaq, the only settlement on the island, occupies about a tenth of its area around the southern tip. It is the largest town north of Ilulissat and a cultural centre of north-western Greenland, with a small port used by supply ships, fishing boats and motorboats. Sheltered by the Nuussuaq mountains and warmed by occasional foehn winds, the area is considered the sunniest in Greenland. A popular Danish and Greenlandic tradition places the home of Santa Claus in Spraglebugten Bay on the island's western shore, where a turf hut was built for a television programme.
Getting there
Uummannaq Island lies in Uummannaq Fjord, about 165 km north of Ilulissat. The nearest airport is Qaarsut Airport (JQA) on the Nuussuaq Peninsula, about 23 km away across Sarqarput Strait; helicopters link it with Uummannaq Heliport on the island. Ilulissat Airport (JAV) is about 168 km away. By sea, the island is served by supply and passenger vessels calling at Uummannaq port.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Uummannaq Island is a small island in Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. Located in the south-central part of the Uummannaq Fjord, it is home to the most prominent mountain on the Arctic coast of western Greenland and to Uummannaq, the largest town north of Ilulissat.
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