Eldfell — The 1973 Heimaey Eruption

The Night the Earth Opened

The eruption began around 01:55 with almost no warning, when a 1.6 km-long fissure split the eastern side of Heimaey, throwing lava fountains into the night sky within sight of people's bedroom windows. The fissure initially threatened to cut the town off entirely, but activity soon concentrated into a single vent that began building the Eldfell cone.

By extraordinary luck, a storm the previous day had kept the entire fishing fleet in harbor. The boats that would normally have been scattered across the North Atlantic were sitting at the docks — and they became the lifeline that carried nearly the whole population to the mainland before dawn.

• January 23, 1973, ~01:55: Fissure opens 150 m east of town
• ~5,300 residents evacuated within about 6 hours, mostly by fishing boat
• Eruption lasted until July 3, 1973 — just over 5 months
• One fatality — a man overcome by toxic gases in a basement
• Eldfell cone grew to roughly 200 m above the surrounding land

The Battle for the Harbor

Vestmannaeyjar was — and remains — one of Iceland's most important fishing ports, and by February the lava flow was advancing toward the harbor entrance. Closing it would have ended the town's reason to exist. The response was audacious: pump seawater onto the lava front to chill it, thicken it, and steer it away from the harbor mouth.

Led by physicist Þorbjörn Sigurgeirsson, crews eventually deployed dozens of pumps, including a dredging ship and pump systems flown in from the United States, spraying an estimated 6.8 billion liters of seawater onto the flow. It was the largest lava-cooling operation ever attempted — and it worked. The lava front slowed and solidified, and the harbor was saved. Ironically, the new lava arm now shelters the harbor entrance better than before the eruption.

Destruction & Rebuilding

About 400 homes and buildings — roughly a third of the town — were crushed by lava or buried under black tephra. The island itself grew by about 2.2 km², increasing its area by roughly 20%. When the eruption ended in July 1973, residents returned to dig their town out from under millions of tons of ash.

The recovery became a symbol of Icelandic resilience. Most of the population returned, the fishing industry rebounded, and for over a decade the town heated its homes and swimming pool with heat drawn from the slowly cooling lava flow.

• ~400 buildings destroyed or buried — a third of the town
• Island grew by ~2.2 km² (about 20% larger)
• Tephra was reused to extend the airport runway and build land
• Heat from the cooling lava warmed houses into the 1980s
• Most residents returned — Vestmannaeyjar thrives today

Eldheimar — Pompeii of the North

In the 2000s, excavations began uncovering houses buried by the 1973 tephra, earning Heimaey the nickname 'Pompeii of the North.' The award-winning Eldheimar museum, opened in 2014, is built around one of these excavated homes — left exactly as it was abandoned on the night of the eruption.

The museum tells the story of the eruption, the evacuation, and the rebuilding, and also covers the 1963–1967 Surtsey eruption that built a brand-new island just southwest of Heimaey — a UNESCO World Heritage Site born from the same volcanic system.

Visiting Heimaey & Hiking Eldfell

Heimaey is one of the easiest volcanic sites in Iceland to visit. The Herjólfur ferry crosses from Landeyjahöfn on the south coast in about 40 minutes, and there are also flights from Reykjavík. The hike up Eldfell from town takes under an hour on a marked trail up the red-and-black cone — and in places the ground just below the surface is still warm enough to bake bread.

• Herjólfur ferry from Landeyjahöfn: ~40 minutes, several daily departures
• Eldfell summit hike: 1–1.5 hours round trip from town, easy–moderate
• Eldheimar museum: the buried house and full eruption story
• Walk the 1973 lava field — streets and house sites marked in the lava
• Summer bonus: one of Iceland's largest puffin colonies
• Day trip possible, but an overnight stay is worth it