From glaciers to witchcraft and whales, Iceland has a museum for everything

Iceland is home to some 390,000 people – a fraction of Singapore's population – yet it boasts 266 museums. While a few dozen are in its capital Reykjavik, the majority are scattered over villages and districts across the country. In some remote villages, there are no schools or hospitals, but there are museums.

“If you visit enough museums, you will find something that reflects you as a person,” said Assistant Professor Gudrun Whitehead, who teaches museology at the University of Iceland. “There are so many museums. One of them is bound to be for you.”

The museums vary greatly in size, from double-storey buildings to wooden huts, and cover a wide range of topics. The star is the Perlan Museum in Reykjavik, where interactive exhibits allow visitors to explore glaciers, volcanoes and ice caves. Other traditional museums include exhibits on art and history, maritime expeditions and textiles, while quirky ones feature chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer, witchcraft and penises.

But most museums in smaller towns capture the history of the people and how they lived in bygone eras. They include political leaders and distinguished persons from the area.

Professor Sigurjon Hafsteinsson of the University of Iceland said regional identity became important after the fishing boom of the 1930s, when Icelanders moved from farms to coastal towns. “Many people saw the changes happening and things becoming obsolete,” he said.

Individuals started to collect artefacts in museums to preserve their identity and educate future generations, with the support of community donations.

While many museums, such as the National Museum of Iceland, the Icelandic Museum of Natural History and the National Gallery, are supported by the government, others are run by individuals and privately-owned companies.

In 2001, the Museum Act was introduced to raise the standards of Iceland’s museums. Museums are now able to apply for accreditation and grants. Some 47 museums are now accredited. 

Eight years later, the University of Iceland initiated a Museum Studies course, where undergraduates are taught practical museum work and critical theory, said Professor Hafsteinsson. They also have to do internships in local or overseas museums.

School students account for a significant proportion of museum visitors, and most schools visit museums a few times a year, said Helgi Grimsson, director of the Department of Education and Youth for the city of Reykjavik.

“Your studies come alive,” he said. “If you are learning art and you go to a museum to study the art as it is – not through a photo in your book, some slides or something on video – you can be close and it’s more dynamic and tells you a fuller story.”

Present day issues are tackled at the National Gallery, where exhibits explore themes such as climate change, gender equality and insularism, said Dorothee Kirsch, head of marketing and development at the museum.

Museums in bigger towns draw tourists who see them in city guides and road maps. A survey by the Icelandic Tourist Board showed that 34 per cent of tourists visited the museums in Iceland in 2023.

A couple from France, Pascale Aliprandi and Thibaut Marchand, both 46, said they found the visit to the Hafnarfjordur Museum interesting as they learnt about the town’s history, including the struggles people faced in the past.

The money earned from tourists is important for privately-owned museums, many of which feature unconventional exhibits. Some 99 per cent of visitors to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which displays phallus specimens, are from abroad, said curator Thordur Thordarson.

French tourist Neyer Delphine, 52, said Icelandic museums offer more interactive and immersive experiences compared to those at home. She took her two children to several museums, including the phallological, sea monster, whale and sorcery and witchcraft museums.

Thora Olafsdottir, managing director of the Museum Council of Iceland, worries that the amalgamation of municipalities in recent decades might result in some museums closing.

“It is such an important thing to have a vibrant cultural life that makes life worth living.

“It’s not just about your nine-to-five, trying to have work, a roof over your head and something to eat. Life has to have some colour in it also,” said Olafsdottir.

This piece was produced as part of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information’s Going Overseas for Advanced Reporting (Go-Far) course. Go-Far is an advanced journalism reporting course that immerses students in the challenges of operating in another country and culture.