Þjóðminjasafn National Museum
The National Museum of Iceland, Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, is the main repository of Icelandic cultural and historical heritage, located at Suðurgata 41 in Reykjavík, a short walk from the University of Iceland and Tjörnin lake. Founded in 1863, it has been at its current address since 1950. The permanent exhibition, Making of a Nation, presents around 2,000 objects in chronological order from the Viking Age settlement of Iceland through the medieval period, the Reformation, and into the 20th century. Among the highlights are a small bronze figurine believed to depict Thor, a replica Viking ship bow, and the Valþjófsstaður door, a pine church door from 1150 AD intricately carved with a Lion-Knight legend and runic inscriptions, the only carved Icelandic door with runic script in existence. A free audio guide is available in nine languages.
Iceland's National Museum, Where 1,200 Years of History from Viking Settlement to the Present are Collected in One Building
The National Museum of Iceland was established on 24 February 1863, originally housing a collection of Icelandic artefacts that had been kept in Danish museums during the colonial period. The collection spent its first decades in various temporary locations before moving to its current modernist building on Suðurgata in 1950. The permanent exhibition, Making of a Nation, was redesigned in 2004 and presents Icelandic history in a broadly chronological walk-through format, from the first Norse settlers arriving in Iceland in the 9th century through the medieval commonwealth period, the Norwegian and Danish colonial eras, the Reformation, and the economic and social changes of the 19th and 20th centuries. Around 2,000 objects are on display at any given time from a total collection of around 17,000 registered items. The exhibition uses multimedia and interactive elements alongside the physical objects, and the audio guide in nine languages is included with admission.
The single most famous object in the collection is the Valþjófsstaður door, a carved pine church door dating to around 1150 AD, found at a farm in East Iceland. The door's panels are carved with a narrative scene from a medieval European legend in which a knight rescues a lion from a dragon, and the outer border incorporates runic inscriptions, making it the only known carved Icelandic door with runic script. The carving technique and iconography are of exceptional quality for Iceland at that date and reflect the country's connection to broader European artistic traditions during the medieval period. Other highlights include a small bronze figurine from the Viking Age thought to depict the god Thor, early Icelandic bibles and legal manuscripts, and a collection of traditional Icelandic costume spanning several centuries.
The museum is at Suðurgata 41, about a 15-minute walk west from Hallgrímskirkja and 13 minutes from the city centre at Austurvöllur. It is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Admission is charged for adults; children under 18 enter free. The museum café is on the ground floor under a glass roof and is open during museum hours. The gift shop stocks a good range of books on Icelandic history, design, and natural history. The museum was voted Best Museum in Reykjavík by the Reykjavík Grapevine in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
