Petra’s Stone Collection

Ljósbjörg Petra María Sveinsdóttir was interested in stones all her life. A collector and a naturalist are two terms that have been used to describe Petra since she was a little girl. From the day she opened her eyes for the first time she perceived her surroundings differently from most of us and it is almost as her parents knew that when they named her. The word “Petra” simply means “stone” in Greek.

Petra began building her mineral collection when she and her husband Nenni bought their house in 1946. The reason was that for the first time she could keep all the stones she found in one place. On the day of Nenni’s funeral, Petra decided that from that day forward, her home would be open to everybody that wished to see her mineral collection

Petra passed away in 2012 but her home remains a museum for her collection. The museum recieves many visitors each year and it has become one of the most popular tourist destination in East Iceland. For sure, Petra´s house has slowly acquired the appearance of a nature museum, but first and foremost, it´s a home.