Museums in Iceland

Abstract

In Iceland there are close to 70 museum collections which is a considerable number bearing in mind that the country has a population of only 260 000. In almost every district and town, not to mention the capital, people have cooperated in collecting objects that reflect the way of life and culture of the nation's past. The main task of most museums is to collect and preserve objects or pieces ofart. Apartfrom exhibiting these objects, some museums organize special exhibitions, lectures and concerts. Most of the larger museums offer professional advice in their fields, e.g. on buildings, objects and preservation. About four out of every five museums (i.e. 48) are ethnographic (folk museums); there are 13 art museums and 10 natural history museums. A few museums are combinations of these three categories. The distribution of these museums is noteworthy: the ethnographic and natural history museums are distributed evenly around the country, while most of the art museums are situated in Reykjavik. In this article the focus is on the cultural history museums, but articles on the art and natural history museums will hopefully follow.