National Museum Of Iceland aka: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands

This museum was hard to find as it was slightly out of the city along a main road and looked nothing like a museum. It had the appearance of a factory or out-of-town office block and I only knew it was the right place because a. the map told me so, and b. there was a small sign in front of it with ‘Museum of Iceland’ on. I had to walk to the end to find the entrance and to my relief it looked much more like a museum on the inside.

The museum tells the story of Iceland in chronological order over two floors, beginning with the first inhabitants right up to the modern day. I found the exhibits were well-chosen and the accompanying text informative and interesting. There was an excellent balance between giving plenty of information and not boring with too much.

The newly renovated National Museum of Iceland is a museum of the highest quality. The permanent exhibition The Making of a Nation is presented in very accessible, interesting and involving way making use of both good design and varied media.

In addition to the permanent exhibition there are also one to three other exhibitions in the house. One will be on the ground level in a special exhibition space accessible freely and separately from the main exhibition. Here one often finds exhibitions from the National Photography Museum, a sub-museum of the National Museum. On the 2nd floor, halfway through the permanent exhibition there is also another gallery. That one usually hosts exhibitions of items from the National Museum’s main collection. At that point one will also find an exhibition of new items, a hands on area for kids and a rest area including a reading room.

At the ground level you’ll also find the nice museum store, with a wide range of Icelandic design with connections to Iceland and Icelandic heritage.

Last but not least the Kaffitár Café there is, like other Kaffitár cafés, a top class café!

The Museum is situated at the edge of both 101 and the University complex

^{Note: Because of the photosensitivity of the items displayed and the amount of design which has gone into the exhibition photographing the exhibition is actually prohibited. My excuse is that the photographs are of an educational nature.}