Byggðasafn Húnvetninga og Strandamanna

About the museum

The Byggðasafn Húnvetninga og Strandamanna (Local Museum of the Húnavatn and Strandir Regions) is at Reykir in Hrútafjörður, about one kilometre from Route 1. The idea for the museum came up at the annual meeting of the Húnvetningafélag (Húnavatn Association) in Reykjavík in 1955, when the association began collecting objects. The agricultural adviser Ragnar Ásgeirsson gathered items widely across the Húnavatn counties, and they were kept in various places until the museum got its own premises. The municipalities around Húnaflói run the museum.

The museum shows how people lived and worked at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. One room covers shark fishing in Húnaflói, an important chapter in the region's economic history. It houses the shark-fishing boat Ófeigur from Ófeigsfjörður in the Strandir region, built in 1875, which is the only preserved vessel of its kind in Iceland.

The larger hall presents a rural community around 1900, focusing on everyday household furnishings and traditional crafts. Visitors can walk into three houses from the region: the Tungunes farmhouse, a parlour from the old farm at Svínavatn and a baðstofa (communal living room) from Syðsta-Hvammur. Smaller exhibitions cover, among other things, food preparation in earlier times, criminal cases from the Húnavatn counties, the history of women and the stay of Rannveig H. Líndal in Greenland from 1921 to 1923.

Highlights

• The shark-fishing boat Ófeigur from 1875, the only preserved vessel of its kind in Iceland
• The Tungunes farmhouse, which visitors can walk into
• Baðstofa from Syðsta-Hvammur
• Parlour from the old farm at Svínavatn
• Exhibition on shark fishing in Húnaflói

Permanent exhibitions

• Hákarlaveiðar við Húnaflóa – A room on shark fishing and the culture around it. The main object is the shark-fishing boat Ófeigur from Ófeigsfjörður, built in 1875.
• Sveitasamfélag um 1900 – Exhibition on everyday life and traditional crafts in the countryside around 1900. Visitors walk into the Tungunes farmhouse, a parlour from Svínavatn and a baðstofa from Syðsta-Hvammur.

Operated by

Sveitarfélögin við Húnaflóa

Admission & discounts

Adults are 18 and over.

Accessibility

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Kids & families

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Getting there & parking

The museum is about 1 km from Route 1 in Hrútafjörður.

Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Handicrafts from the region are sold at the museum.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit