Vikin Maritime Museum
| Sjóminjasafnið í Reykjavík | |
| Established | 2005 |
|---|---|
| Location | Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Type | Maritime Museum |
| Website | www.maritimemuseum.is (in English) |
The Reykjavik Maritime Museum is a maritime museum located by the old harbour in the capital of Iceland, Reykjavík and run by Reykjavik City. The museum was established in 2005, and it is now one of five sites belonging to Reykjavik City Museum. There are seven exhibitions at the museum displaying Icelandic maritime history from the early settlements to the late 20th century. An important part of the museum is the Coast Guard and rescue vessel Óðinn (pronounced Othinn). In 2008, the ship was transformed into a museum exhibit about the cod wars in the 1950s and 1970s. The ship also tells about its own history. The museum focuses on the history of fishing in Iceland but also displays temporary exhibitions related to the sea.
The museum building was built in 1947 on a landfill called Grandi, and housed a fish freezing plant. In 1959, BÚR (Reykjavik Municipal Fishing Company) bought the plant, and it became one of the largest processors of redfish fillets. In 1985 the freezing plant's operation moved to another location, and the building was unused for about 20 years. The building was extensively renovated and, in 2002, the Reykjavík City Council formally established it as a maritime museum.
The museum opened in 2005 and, for the first three years, occupied the second floor only. The museum closed during the winter of 2007-2008 to reconstruct the first floor and in June 2008, the museum reopened with four new exhibitions and a new entrance. In 2009, the museum expanded again with a new exhibition installed in a former storage area and a museum café which opened in a space formerly rented by the museum. Víkin now has seven halls with seven exhibitions, ranging from photographic displays to full exhibits of 100-year-old boats, including the former Coast Guard vessel Óðinn, acquired by the museum in February 2008. The ship is secured to the pier next to the museum and has been made accessible for guests to visit in guided tours.
There are three permanent exhibitions in the museum: The History of Sailing, From Poverty to Abundance, and The Coast Guard Vessel Óðinn.
This exhibition recounts Iceland's maritime history and the growth of Reykjavík Harbor which was a natural haven. The exhibition is partly displayed in the space that was the Reykjavík Municipal Fishing Company‘s fish-processing room. The high-ceiling room has a specially-designed wooden pier that is 17 m (56 ft) long and 5 m (16 ft). Seawater flows below the pier, and the entrance is through the reconstructed deck of the steamship Gullfoss from 1915. The deck was constructed to give visitors the feel of being on board, and visitors actually become part of the exhibition; the visitors on Gullfoss' deck appear as passengers to the people on the pier.
...
Wikipedia