Visit the Whaling Station at Áir – a unique industrial heritage site from 1905

The Whaling Station at Áir is the last remaining of seven whaling stations established in the Faroe Islands between 1894 and 1905. Norwegian companies introduced commercial whaling to the islands, making the station an important piece of Norwegian industrial heritage in the Faroe Islands.

The station at Áir was established in 1905 by Chr. Salvesen & Co., a Norwegian company based in Scotland, and changed ownership several times. P/F Hvalarakstur, owned by J.F. Kjølbro, ceased operations in 1958, and whaling declined during the 1960s and 1970s. The last whale was caught and flensed at the station in 1984.

Today, the Whaling Station is a museum. Its buildings and equipment preserve the story of a distinctive period in Faroese industrial history. The site is managed and preserved by the National Museum of the Faroe Islands.