The Icelandic Aviation Museum in Akureyri is filled with great stories: locals crashing a Nazi glider into an open grave, the president's plane enlisted to beat the British in the Cod Wars, and a nineteen year search to find a missing WWII plane that crash landed in a glacier. The museum's Chairman of the board, Hörður Geirsson, gave me an insiders tour and told me more about the Flugsafn Íslands collection and the history of aviation in Iceland. Music in this episode is from The Aristókrasía Pr...
Feb 27, 2018•24 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Just off the Ring Road in the north of Iceland, a small town once known for hunting seals has breathed new life into their community with a much more sustainable industry: seal watching. At the Seal Center in Hvammstangi, scientists and museum professionals are working together to study seal life in Iceland and help visitors engage more meaningfully and responsibly with some of Iceland's cutest locals. They are doing this by combining hard facts and the art of storytelling. I spoke to Sigurður L...
Feb 13, 2018•29 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The Icelandic music scene has produced a remarkable number of international stars like Sigur Rós, Björk, Kaleo, the Sugar Cubes, and Of Monsters and Men. You can learn more about them and discover new music at the Icelandic Museum of Rock 'n' Roll . It's a paradise for Icelandic music fans, but it will also impress museum-lovers and professionals with its beautiful exhibits and the near-endless opportunities to explore the music and learn more. In this episode, I tour the museum and talk with Ma...
Jan 30, 2018•39 min•Season 1Ep. 10
How do you keep history fresh at a municipal history museum, even when many people in your audience have lived in that small town their entire lives? How do you best serve your local audience while still offering something interesting for tourists? These are the challenges the Hafnarfjörður Museum is trying to solve. The museum is housed in seven historic buildings in Hafnarfjörður, an old harbor town in the southwest of Iceland. In this episode, museum director Björn Pétursson gives me a tour o...
Jan 24, 2018•23 min•Season 1Ep. 9
How does a contemporary art institution–places that are notoriously elitist–provide a thriving cultural center in a town's that on the periphery of Iceland and the world? The Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art is a contemporary art gallery and collection in the heart of downtown Hafnarfjörður, an old port town ten kilometers south of Reykjavík. They take their responsibility as the only art museum very seriously. I sat down with Director Ágústa Kristófersdóttir to learn more. _______ Muse...
Jan 16, 2018•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Akranes is a coastal town in the southwest region of Iceland with a growing population of about 7,000. They have a unique heritage, as the area was settled in large part by Celts, not Norsemen. The charming Akranes Folk Museum has been around for almost 60 years, and is beginning a large project to revamp their exhibits to better serve the new residents of the area, Icelanders visiting from the greater Reykjavík area, and an increasing numbers of foreign visitors. I sat down with the museum's di...
Jan 10, 2018•24 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Hafsteinn Thor has always been interested in geology, nature, biology, and philosophy...and acting and directing...and singing and learning new instruments. But when he met his wife's family, he was draw into their decades-old passion for stone and mineral collecting. Last year, he and his father-in-law finally set up a museum with the family's collection...in the gas station of their small town in the south of Iceland. In this episode, I visit the Ljósbrá Steinasafn , the Hveragerdi Stone and M...
Dec 18, 2017•24 min•Season 1Ep. 6
I visit the Snorrastofa , a research and cultural center at Reykholt, the farm in southwestern Iceland where the great medieval Icelandic historian and writer Snorri Sturluson built his home, a church, and later a small fortress. Snorrastofa Project Manager Sigrun Guttomsdóttir Þormar and I talk about Snorri's dramatic life, his legacy, and his hot tub, which is still in perfect working condition 800 years after its construction. The music in this episode is by the Iceland/German band Árstíðir l...
Dec 04, 2017•33 min•Season 1Ep. 5
I visit the Reykjavík City Museum to talk with Museum Director Guðbrandur Benediktsson about museum mergers, historians as presidents, the state of history in Iceland, and the future of history museums in Reykjavík. The music in this episode is "Humble History Song" by the Icelandic singer/ songwriter Ceasetone . ________ Museums in Strange Places is a podcast about Icelandic museums and museum culture. Subscribe to Museums in Strange Places and you can expect fascinating conversations with Icel...
Nov 21, 2017•20 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In this episode, I drive thirty minutes outside of Reykjavík to visit Gljúfrasteinn , the museum–and former home–of Halldór Laxness, writer and Nobel laureate. His remarkable life spanned almost the entire 20th century, from 1902 to 1998. He published his first novel at 17 and would go on to publish more than 60 books in his lifetime, mostly novels, but also volumes of poetry and short stories. The museum's director, Guðný Dóra Gestsdóttir, gives me a tour of the home, built in the 1940's, and t...
Nov 06, 2017•32 min•Season 1Ep. 3
I descend into the historic city public toilets of downtown Reykjavík to check out one of the newer museums in town, the Icelandic Punk Museum . You know it's legit because Johnny Rotten himself presided over the opening in 2016. In a town with it's fair share of tourist traps, this space is no gimmick. The museum was created by punks and music scholars who manage to hit just the right notes with their content and presentation. Music in this episode is by Skrattar , and is used with their permis...
Oct 30, 2017•16 min•Season 1Ep. 2
I continue my conversation with Sigurlaugur Ingólfsson at the Árbær Open Air Museum in Reykjavík. We discuss what makes an open air museum visit memorable, whether admission prices motivate museums to stay fresh and engaging, and why we have to think about museums like businesses (sometimes). Music for this episode created by soandso. Used here with permission from the artist. _________ Museums in Strange Places is a podcast about Icelandic museums and museum culture. Subscribe to Museums in Str...
Oct 22, 2017•8 min•Season 1Ep. 2
I visit the Árbær Open Air Museum in Reykjavík to interview the Árbær Museum Project Manager, Sigurlaugur Ingólfsson. In this episode you'll learn about: open air/living history museums in Iceland, museum mergers, tourists vs. locals, Vikings, and why it's blasphemy to visit Siglufjörður and *not* visit the Herring Era Museum. _________ Museums in Strange Places is a podcast about Icelandic museums and museum culture. Subscribe to Museums in Strange Places and you can expect fascinating conversa...
Oct 16, 2017•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1
