Our swimming pool culture listed with UNESCO

The swimming culture is unique on a global scale

Iceland’s swimming pool culture has been recognized as a living tradition and has been added to UNESCO’s list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. As Logi Einarsson, Minister of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education, said earlier today, it has now joined the ranks of the French baguette and the Finnish sauna tradition.

These significant news were celebrated in grand style today at Vesturbæjarlaug. Mayors and municipal leaders gathered there along with the minister, Grýla and one of her thirteen sons. The atmosphere was joyful. The mayor of Seltjarnarnes, for example, showed a photo of a swan that had gone for a swim in Seltjarnarneslaug this morning. The swan appeared widely in the media.

Iceland’s swimming pool culture was nominated for UNESCO’s list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity in March 2024. An 18 month evaluation process within UNESCO followed, formally concluding with a meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of the Convention, held in New Delhi, India. There, the committee confirmed that Iceland’s swimming pool culture receives this highest recognition in the field of living traditions.

UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage has been described as the little sister of the well known World Heritage List. The list includes highly diverse examples of humanity’s cultural heritage, with more than 800 inscriptions from over 150 countries. Other examples on the list include Chinese shadow puppetry, Belgian beer culture and the Mediterranean diet.

We in Hafnarfjörður have three public swimming pools. They are always full of life and activity and yes, now it will be even more fun to practice Hafnarfjörður’s swimming pool culture.