Tag Archives: Iceland

Jun10

The Punk Museum of Reykjavik

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Sunday, 19-May-2024


Okay so one more museum for today, I swear.

Wait… yeah. Okay, this is definitely the last museum from Sunday the 19th. Had to double-check that.


From the settlement museum, I was a bit overstimulated and stuffed full of new trivia knowledge… I was happy, feeling good, and enjoying my continued wanderings around Reykjavik when I noticed a sign, pointing down a staircase, under the street.

Signs, pointing down staircases, under streets, are a great place to have your kidneys removed. Alternatively, they remind me of the entrance to the Catacombs in Paris, that I didn’t ever get to see since my friends wanted to see Notre Dam, which we could have seen afterward, but no we had to see first, and it had a huge line, and I never got to see the catacombs, and no I’m not still mad about that what makes you think that?


…


I went down the stairs.





The punk museum of Reykjavik lived up to its name.

Punk isn’t about following rules, or fitting in, or even being particularly understandable. It’s about… well, it’s about punk. Pretty sure that, if you asked 10 punks what Punk is about, you’d get 12 different answers and a fist fight.

The punk museum was built in a defunct public restroom. There was a small entryway, with an exceptionally chill dude talking to friends about some upcoming shows. The “Exhibits” were the stalls, plastered with concert posters, facts, and photos… in something vaguely resembling what could be mistaken for a chronological order.

I asked if I had enough time to see everything before he closed up shop, and he looked at me sideways and said, “Man, I’m not gonna kick you out. Have fun, don’t worry about it” and then went back to his conversation.

Hell yeah. I perused, learned a bit (I think?) and simply appreciated that a museum like this could exist. I repeat – Hell. Yeah.


Jun10

The Settlement Museum in Reykjavik

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Sunday, 19-May-2024


Okay so this was a little bit ridiculous, and for that I probably should be sorry. But I’m not. Because it’s ridiculous and awesome!

After exploring the National Museum of Iceland, I wandered. I wandered in a direction, enjoying my freedom and lack of stress or anxiety. It was 4:00 or so, and the other museums closed at 5… so I wasn’t aiming to whirlwind my way through anything, and instead was just appreciating being able to walk.

Then I came across the Settlement museum.

It was small, looked interesting, and… I mean, it was 4:10, and they closed at 5:00… And it really did look small…

I hopped in, and started chatting with the docents. They said that I could probably see the whole thing, if I read quickly, and that they’d make a note to let me in for free the following day anyways if I’d like.

I couldn’t say no to that, could I?

I couldn’t.




I explored the Settlement Museum.

I headed down, down a flight of stairs into what I was expecting to be a sub-basement or something… keep in mind, I only stopped in because I saw the museum building while walking, and it looked quite small, so I didn’t have any idea about what sort of museum I was in for.

I headed down, down a flight of stairs, into an ancient Viking longhouse.


It turns out – the settlement museum is a real archeological dig, found in 2001 when excavating in Reykjavik. The eponymous “Settlement” is, in fact, a Viking longhouse that way dated to (likely) around the initial settlement of Iceland itself… and, nearby, is the oldest housing remnant found in Iceland – a small turf wall, dated back even further than the main longhouse itself.

Surrounding the longhouse are displays and placards (my favorite!) filling the explorer in on all the details, minutia, and artifacts recovered. It… was a lot bigger than it looked from street level, let me tell you.

And of interesting note – the entire longhouse was approximately 85 m3, and housed an entire extended family. For comparison, my apartment in Wilsonville (which housed me) was 83 m3. Yeah, I was a little bit spoiled. Turns out – higher quality of life than people in the 10th century. Who knew?

In the end, I was able to make my way through the entire exhibition – with a little extra time from one of the docents, who very generously let me stay a little bit late while she closed out the cash register.

Jun9

The National Museum of Iceland

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Sunday, 19-May-2024


I am a lover of museums.

I couldn’t begin to guess how many times I went to museums in Boston while growing up. The Museum of Fine Art, the Science Museum… countless other smaller galleries and showcases… It was part of my family, and I wouldn’t trade those memories for the world.

When travelling, I keep that tradition alive.


I had two days in Reykjavik before flying out, and I planned on making the most of them. Originally I only had one, and was going to use it to see the art museum, but I got an extra day when my glacier tour cancelled on me… an opportunity to explore that I wasn’t going to pass up.


I started with the National Museum.

Throughout my adventures in Iceland, I’ve been adoring learning about the history of the country – both the history of its people and the history of the land itself. The National Museum focused almost exclusively on the former, discussing Icelandic settlement from the earliest Vikings up through the modern day. It was really interesting, though I’ll admit to one frustration that I have with many history museums… a lack of a single primary timeline. The history museum in Greenland had one, showing the various timelines, and the museum at Þingvellir had a pretty solid timeline… so my only complaint is that a similar timeline near the beginning, repeated throughout, would have been nice to give context.

Aside, though… the artifacts! They were so cool; being able to see original finds from throughout Iceland’s history… I loved it!

So sit back and enjoy, dear reader, some of the many placards and details from the Reykjavik National Museum!