The Museum, i.e.the relics , were given to Vopnafjörður by Elín Methúsalemsdóttir in the year 1982. The houses on the other hand were sold to the Icelandic nation in 1943 by Methúsalem Methúsalemsson and are taken care of and preserved by the Icelandic National Museum.
The mud and wood floor house contains many treasure filled rooms, antiques and sepia tone photographs, fitted with fine furnishings, just the same as when the family house lived in, each room, fronted with a timbered gable and all interconnected by a series of low ceiling passages or hallways often only lit by shark or seal oil brass lamps .
The rooms are as such: badstofa (living room), baejardyr (front hall) skemma or skali (sheds), stofur (parlours), hlada (storehouse), a palli hjonahus (upstairs master chambers) bur (pantry) a few eldhus (kitchens) which each tell a story of hard work and determination while reflecting the stages of modernization through the decades.
The sheds usually kept horse bridles and saddlery, along with farm tools, such as turf saddles, spades, forks, hoes and scythes , for work on the tun (homefield) and occasionally animal meal and hay.
A pantrys walls were lined with tubs, barrels and casks to store sour milk, skyr, and whey.
Kitchens contained open fire rock pits, bowls, dishes, jugs, pots, pans and pails and often from the wooden rafters , hung rowes of smoked meat.
The Museum shows clearly the lifestyle changes that occured from the time it was rebuildt until the family moved into the “new house”. Guests can follow the difference in the standards for quality, for example when there came running water into the house, and a heating system.
But to see it, feel it and sense it is always the best experience. We welcome you for a visit.
