Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Skogar Museum

Skogar Museum, two hours south of Reykjavik, was our destination one day, and it was fascinating.  This is an open-air folk museum showing the architecture of homes from the past, including an amazing 'turf house'.  No elves in sight, but we enjoyed seeing homes of Iceland's past.

This is the turf house at the museum, all one house but perhaps lived in by an extended family.  What look like different buildings would be connected beneath the sod roofs.

Sod homes were built from the time of settlement up until the mid-20th century, the sod and stones helping to keep the houses warm.  I'm wondering if the lack of trees for firewood was also part of the context for this.

These are not original sod homes, but real homes nevertheless, moved from nearby and restored.  Elsewhere in Iceland you can see original sod homes lived in until the 1950s but now used as museums.  They require a lot of maintenance.

I found the architecture fascinating; inside they were like any other early home, the sod is only on the outside.

There were also a few other early 20th century buildings, 3 homes and a small church, 

The interior of the homes contained what I expected, based on visiting other pioneer villages here in Canada.

The Skokgakirkja Church was much like pioneer churches here, but considerably more ornate inside than I expected, perhaps reflecting the Lutheran tradition.  Regina Hronn Ragnarsdottir, the lady in the photo (thanks), is an Icelandic blogger who has written extensively about tourist sites in Iceland that reflect Icelandic culture, including turf houses.

There was also an interior part of the Skogar Museum, with smaller models of sailing vessels and a number of other historic artifacts, many related to local fishing .

I found the butter churns and ladles interesting, for I have a ladle exactly like these from my grandparents.

But the centrepiece of the museum is the 'Petursey', a fishing boat actually built on this farm in 1855 and donated to the museum in 1952.  The new museum building was built around it and houses it and all the other artifacts which you can now see year-round.

We found the visit to Skogar Museum provided a good glimpse into traditional Icelandic culture, and a refreshing balance to all the more natural features we were seeing otherwise, the glaciers, waterfalls and rocks!  (Along with the elves).


19 comments:

  1. Very interesting. Presumably the sod houses would have been quite cozy in the winter. Much nicer than the "soddies" constructed on the Great Plains by the first settlers but probably used for far longer.

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  2. I think some of our prairie settlers were from Iceland weren't they? The sod houses look very similar.

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  3. So very interesting to see all these pictures. Love the sod houses.

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  4. Interesting to see the various houses including the Sod houses. I imagine those first soddies roofs leaked when it rained.

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  5. Like everyone else I like the sod house. It must have been so interesting to go inside and see the support structures.

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  6. The sod house architecture fascinates me.

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  7. It sure is interesting to see how they managed to use the available materials to keep themselves warm and cozy during the winter months. I think I saw a couple elves peeking out from inside the room in that house! :-)

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  9. What an interesting museum.
    The sod houses are strange, not many windows.

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  10. I always enjoy this kind of museum. I remember being on holiday with my parents in Yorkshire many years ago and my father being adamant that he didn't want to go to a museum. However he was outvoted in the matter and came along. Of course as a countryman he loved seeing all the old farm equipment and had to be dragged away from a long conversation with the curator of the museum>

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  11. I too like those sod houses and think I would be quite comfortable living in one. Great insulation with all that dirt heaped on them.

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  12. I am surprised to learn that such houses were still used in my lifetime. I guess then it was tome to ‘sod off.’

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  13. They obviously used what they had to create their utensils and homes. I think it's wonderful that you have a wooden ladle from your grandparents. It's a incredible piece of history.

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  14. The sod dwelling remind me of the replicasod long houses at L’ Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland when the Viking landed a thousand years ago.

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  15. oh man those sod houses are so cool, i would enjoy living there!! those ladles are huge, surprising that you have one!!

    i enjoyed this post, lots of very interesting information and the pictures are great!!

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  16. The sod is really fascinating. What a clever thing to do.
    Hope you two are staying warm!

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  17. Sod hommes were certainly a way for the pioneers of the States to live in the high prairie.

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