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Garðar, Igaliko
Illerfissalik seen from Igaliku
Illerfissalik seen from Igaliku
Igaliku is located in Greenland
Location within Greenland
Coordinates: 60°59′16″N 45°25′15″W﻿ / ﻿60.98778°N 45.42083°W﻿ / 60.98778; -45.42083Coordinates: 60°59′16″N 45°25′15″W﻿ / ﻿60.98778°N 45.42083°W﻿ / 60.98778; -45.42083
State  Kingdom of Denmark
Constituent country  Greenland
Municipality Kujalleq-coat-of-arms.svg Kujalleq
Founded 1783
 • Mayor Klaus Egede
Population (2010)
 • Total 55
Time zone UTC-03
Postal code 3921 Narsaq

Igaliku (IATA: QFX) is a settlement in the Kujalleq municipality in southern Greenland. The town was founded as Igaliko in 1783 by the trader and colonial administrator Anders Olsen and his wife Tuperna, who was a Greenlander. In 2010, Igaliku had 55 inhabitants.[2]


Igaliku is located southeast of Narsarsuaq, on a peninsula jutting off the mainland of Greenland near the eastern shore of upper Tunulliarfik Fjord.[3] Access is easier from the small nearby harbour of Itilleq.[4]

Landmarks and sights[edit]

Igaliku is best known for the ruins of Garðar, once the religious heart of 12th-century Norse Greenland.[5] The area was at the very heart of the Eastern Settlement and has been extensively archaeologically excavated since the 1830s. There are several historical graves in the area, although most have not presently been identified.

Hay bales in Igaliku


The settlement has a general store, a church including the congregation building, and a school, Atuarfik Igaliku (Greenlandic for "the school of Igaliku").


The population of Igaliku has been stable in the last two decades.[2]

Igaliku population dynamics
Igaliku population growth dynamics in the last two decades. Source: Statistics Greenland[2]


  1. ^ "Sermitsiaq, 2008/07/18" (in Danish). Retrieved April 17, 2011. 
  2. ^ a b c "Statistics Greenland" (in Danish). Retrieved April 17, 2011. 
  3. ^ Ivittuut/Narsarsuaq/Qaqortoq, Saga Map, Tage Schjøtt, 1992
  4. ^ "Metal Traveller in Igaliku". http://www.metaltraveller.com/en/. Retrieved 2011-09-09. 
  5. ^ O'Carroll, Etain (2005). Greenland and the Arctic. Lonely Planet. p. 108. ISBN 1-74059-095-3.