Kópavogur




Kópavogur is a town in Iceland that is the country's second largest municipality by population.
It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region. The name literally means seal pup inlet. The town seal contains the profile of the church Kópavogskirkja with a seal pup underneath.
Kópavogur is largely made up of residential areas, but has commercial areas and much industrial activity as well. The tallest building in Iceland, the Smáratorg Tower, is located in central Kópavogur.

History

Kópavogur is historically significant as the site of the 1662 Kópavogur meeting. This event marked the total incorporation of Iceland into Denmark-Norway when, on behalf of the Icelandic people, Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson and Árni Oddsson, a lawyer, signed a document confirming that the introduction of absolute monarchy by the King also applied to Iceland.
Kópavogur is also one of Iceland's most prominent sites for Icelandic urban legends about the huldufólk; it also features in this capacity in the 2010 film Sumarlandið, where the stone Grásteinn is portrayed as an elf-house in the Kópavogur municipality.
An independent township, Kópavogur is adjacent to Reykjavík.

Sports

Kópavogur's main sports clubs are Gerpla, Breiðablik UBK and HK. In 2010 Breiðablik clinched their first Icelandic league title in football and in 2012 HK won their first Icelandic league title in team handball. The town is also home to a power lifting gym called Thor's Power Gym where the owner, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson set a World Deadlift Record of 501kg on 2020/05/02.

Notable people

Kópavogur is twinned with: