Jóannes Patursson

[6] At home in Tórshavn, the Faroese capital near the Patursson farm, Danish was at the time the overwhelmingly dominant language.

In 1888, the Faroese national movement was "officially" created at the Christmas Meeting, Jóannes Patursson being one of the main actors.

Especially for this occasion he wrote a battle hymn, Nú er tann stundin komin til handa (Now is the hour come for acting).

Allegedly, the 22-year-old Patursson was too timid to present his hymn at the meeting, so his older compatriot Rasmus Effersøe was selected.

Although Nú er tann stundin komin til handa does not reach the quality of Patursson's later poetry, it became a symbol of the struggle of the Faroese language and culture which, for example, was later to be Janus Djurhuus' "linguistic baptism".

Jóannes Patursson featured on Faroe Islands postal stamp (1984)
The Viking Age carved door of the roykstovan at Kirkjubøur was destroyed in 1833. This accurate copy was built and carved by the "King's Farmer" Jóannes Patursson in 1907. On the top is something that looks like the Norwegian Lion ; the Faroes were formerly a Norwegian colony.
Jóannes Patursson