Iceland is an island nation in the North Atlantic roughly 800 km (500 mi) northwest of Scotland. Settled by Norse explorers around 870, Iceland has had a legislature since 930 and has generally functioned as a self-governing commonwealth, but for centuries it was also part of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1918 Iceland was granted full autonomy and in 1944 it declared its independence as a republic. This age includes lighthouses of three of Iceland's eight regions: Vestfirðir (West Fjords), Norðurland Vestra (Western Northland), and Norðurland Eystra (Eastern Northland). The north coast of Iceland faces the Greenland Sea to the north and the Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait, separating Iceland and Greenland, to the northwest. In Icelandic the word for a lighthouse is viti (plural vitar); ey is an island, rif is a reef, nes is a cape, vík or flói is a bay, fjörð is a firth or fjord, sund is a strait, ána is a river, and höfn is a harbor. The Icelandic alphabet includes the old Norse letters "eth" (Ð and ð) and "thorn" (Þ and þ), which are pronounced with the softer and harder forms of the th sound, respectively. Lighthouses in Iceland are regulated by the Icelandic Transport Authority (Samgöngustofa, or ICETRA), which also maintains and operates the major coastal lights. Local port authorities operate harbor lights. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. VIT numbers are from the Vitaskrá, the official Icelandic light list. Admiralty numbers are from volume L of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 115.
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Vestfirðir (Northwest Fjords) Lighthouses
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Norðurland Vestra (Western Northland) Lighthouses
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Norðurland Eystra (Eastern Northland) Lighthouses
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![]() Grenjanes Light, Þórshöfn, August 2018 photo copyright Arnaud van Beek; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses: Notable faux lighthouses: |
Adjoining pages: South: East and South Iceland | West: Western Iceland
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Posted September 11, 2006. Checked and revised April 4, 2025. Lighthouses: 50; lightships: 1. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.