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!