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A Settlement Age farm was found in Garðabær in 1986. It is a Viking long-house dating back to ca 870-930, and an unusually big one, 8 x 30 m, which is the second largest long-house found in Iceland. We don´t know who lived here, this was the land of Reykjavík´s first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, but it looks like a wealthy farmer lived here. It is believed that 20-30 people lived at the farm. An unusual broach was found here, pins, knives and instruments.
One can see the ruins of a long central fireplace, which were typical in these long-houses. There are remains of a weaving room, and many spindle whorls and loom-weights were found here. All cloth was woven in this way back then and during the Middle-Ages in Iceland woven cloth was the biggest export in Iceland.
There is also a pantry here. And 2 boling holes were found filled with burnt animal bones from sheep, pigs, cattle and horses. It was last used in the 10th-11th century. What is unusual about these boiling holes is that they were outside, but usually they were inside. I wonder why.
There are also remains of a pantry here and a smithy.
The Settlement Age Farm was discovered in 1986 when a kindergarten was to be built here. In 1989 further excavation was done and from 1994-2000 some serious excavation was done, supervised by The National Museum. That should have been done earlier, but we Icelanders didn´t think much of these Viking remnants in earlier days. Now a multimedia exhibition has been installed there with very good information on the Settlement Age farm - thanks to Garðabær town. To me the Settlement Age farm is the jewel in the crown of Garðabær town - which is located between Kópavogur (next town to Reykjavík) and Hafnarfjörður.
The Settlement Age farm is always open and there is no entrance fee. It looks like a small park. There are turf walls around it, which were erected later on to show the outer limits of the farm.
This is so interesting, a Settlement Age farm kind of hidden away between the houses and church here in Garðabær. I know that many Icelanders don´t even know that it exists. I stumbled into it on my way to Hafnarfjörður back in 1994+. Back then I had to take 14 years off traveling and my trips consisted of walking from Reykjavík to Hafnarfjörður and back.
I add this tip here as it is close to Hafnarfjörður, but I fear that it might not be seen here, people looking up Iceland will never find this information, so I am going to add the same tip under my Reykjavík pages - off the beaten path.
Updated Jan 17, 2013
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On the ground floor of Hafnarfjörður District museum are circulating exhibitions. When I visited in 2012 there was an exhibition on St. Jósefsspítali hospital, which I kind of think should be a permanent exhibition there, seeing how big a role this hospital played in the history of Hafnarfjörður.
This beautiful hospital was raised by the St. Jósef´s nuns in 1926. These nuns also built a school in Hafnarfjörður.
The nuns were thrifty and grew vegetables in Hafnarfjörður - there is a film on the sisters at the exhbition (see m first photo).
The exhibition shows the work of the sisters and the surgeon and Senior Physician Bjarni Snæbjörnsson and later his son Jónas Bjarnason became Senior Physician at the hospital. He was my doctor when I was younger.
Both my grandmother and sister have been operated on here at this hospital.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
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In the attic/top floor of the District museum is the toy exhibition. I thought it needed a special tip. It is ever so lovely visiting it, especially being up there alone - it can create some very nostalgic moments :)
Here is a collection of old dolls and cars, prams and skis etc. And an old class room and an old camera. This collection is part of a much larger collection, owned by the Hafnarfjörður District museum.
This toy exhibition was designed by the museum and exhibition designers Janvs Ltd., who have won awards for their design.
I visited the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, which is a very big museum with myriads of toys, but taken into account the population of Hafnarfjörður and London, then this toy exhibition is amazing :)
Updated Dec 29, 2012
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The Hafnarfjörður District Museum or Hafnarfjörður Museum (it kind of goes by two names) is called Byggðasafn Hafnarfjarðar in Icelandic and consists of several buildings, big and small. The biggest one is the Pakkhúsið (the Storehouse), the oldest one is Sívertsen´s house, then there is Beggubúð - these are all in the same place. In other places in Hafnarfjörður, but still a part of the Hafnarfjörður District Museum, are Siggubær, the Bookless Bungalow and the Gúttó (The Good Templar´s Hall).
The exhibitions at the Pakkhúsið Storehouse were so good and informative that I had to divide them into several tips. It shows the main events in Hafnarfjörður history through the years. Beginning with the Viking settlement and then moving into earlier times. One can get informed on the German and English part in Hafnarfjörður´s history, the history of fishing and trade in Hafnarfjörður etc. I have added a special tip on the British Occupation of Hafnarfjörður in WW2.
The exhibitions are on several floors, on the ground-floor is also an exhibition on St. Jósefsspítali hospital. In the attic is an exhibiton on old toys.
Opening hours: June 1st - August 31st, every day, from 11:00 - 17:00. September 1st - May 31st weekends from 11:00 - 17:00.
Entrance fee: Free.
The District Museum has got no website, information is in Icelandic only. But at the museum one can get a very well made brochure in Icelandic, English, Danish and German. It is identical to the information on the Hafnarfjörður website, I wonder why they don´t offer other languages than Icelandic there as well.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
Address: Vesturgata 6, 220 Hafnarfjörður.
Phone: 5855780
Website: http://www.hafnarfjordur.is/mannlif/byggdasafn/
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On the first floor (one floor up) at the museum there is an exhibition on the occupation of Iceland during WW2.
The wax-soldiers looks so alive that I was taken aback when I got up the stairs. Unfortunately many of my photos of the soliders were out of focus (no idea why), but they are extremely well made and life-like.
On the 10th of May 1940 the British army occupied Iceland. It was a peaceful occupation as we were rooting for the Allies and although we had declared neutrality we would rather have the British army occupy Iceland than the German army. 2.000 soldiers came ashore, but later the amount rose to 25.000 soldiers - one can only imagine what impact this had on the population of Iceland in 1940. A year later the USA army took over the occupation and stayed here until 2006.
Barracks were mounted all over the place (20.000) as the Icelanders didn´t have enough room to house the soldiers. Some of these barracks can still be seen in Iceland and after the soldiers left Icelanders moved into the barracks. The exhibition at the museum shows life of the soldiers inside the barracks.
Hafnarfjörður was one of the main harbours which the British soldiers wanted to occupy, along with Reykjavík, Akureyri and Hvalfjörður. This was essential in order to guard the North-Atlantic route, which was of great strategic importance.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
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Seeing that the Sívertsen´s house is the oldest house in Hafnarfjörður with so many rooms, I want to show you what it looks like upstairs as well.
Down-stairs there are 2 living rooms, 1 dining room, a kitchen and the office of Bjarni Sívertsen.
Upstairs are 2 bedrooms and one encounters a life-size wax doll sitting on a chair there, making it kind of surreal, being there alone I felt like I had stepped into somebody´s bedroom and that I was disturbing.
Upstairs is also a corridor with a big wooden chest and a store-room with old kitchen utensils, f.ex. for making panckes and waffles (see my photo). I love walking around in these old houses, seeing how people lived and I find it especially interesting looking at the kitchen utensils. As many of them are still in use. I would take a wild guess and say that every Icelandic home owns a pancake pan (griddle) and waffle maker like were on display at the Sívertsen´s house.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
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The Sívertsen´s house is a must see when visiting Hafnarfjörður. It is a part of the Hafnarfjörður District Museum and is the oldest house in Hafnarfjörður, built in 1803-1805 by the father of Hafnarfjörður and my ancestor, Bjarni Sívertsen.
The house has been reconstructed and shows how the elite lived back then. It is on two floors and you encounter several life size wax-dolls, very life-like. For me it is strange visiting Sívertsen´s house seeing the wax-dolls of my ancestors - it is like going for a visit to the past. Extremely well made.
Bjarni Sívertsen, 1763-1833, was a pioneer in Icelandic shipping and trade and a great entrepreneur in his days. He owned a ship-yard and a fishing business in Hafnarfjörður. He had good connections and after the Danish trade monopoly ran its course, Bjarni was the first one to get a trading license in Iceland, which was not a small thing back then.
Opening hours: June 1st - August 31st, every day, from 11:00 - 17:00.
Admittance fee: Free.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
Address: Vesturgata 6, 220 Hafnarfjörður.
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Siggubær - Sigga´s house is part of Hafnarfjörður Museum. It is not by the main area of Hafnarfjörður Museum, so one has to go look for it a further up by Hellisgerði park.
This cute little house was built by a fisherman, Erlendur Marteinsson, in 1902. His daughter, Sigríður Erlendsdóttir, moved into the house when she was 10 and lived there until 1978 and the house got her name Siggubær - Sigga being an abbreviation of the female name Sigríður.
Siggubær was preserved to show how workers and fishermen lived in Hafnarfjörður in the first part of the last century. It is quite small and looks like a doll´s house really, but this is how people lived back then, space was luxury.
Opening hours: June 1st - August 31st, weekends only, from 11:00-17:00.
It was closed when I arrived, so the photos are from the outside of the house only, will visit it next summer. It is a bit of a drawback that it is only open weekends, but seeing it is not in the main museum area, then it is costly hiring a curator to be there the whole time.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
Address: Kirkjuvegur 10, 220 Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
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Part of the Hafnarfjörður Museum and located in a square behind the museum is the old shop Beggubúð. It is such a cute little shop, I love going there. It is called the Hafnarfjörður Museum of Commerce - so lovely that such a cute little shop has such a big title.
Beggubúð means Begga´s shop (an abbreviation of a female name) and was built in 1906 and used to be located in Hafnarfjörður´s main shopping street. There are still some old houses like this in Hafnarfjörður. In 2008 Beggubúð shop was moved to the museum - lifted up and relocated.
The exhibition in the Museum of Commerce is a reconstruction of an old shop - it is so lovely, I loose myself in there and start dreaming. Here are old toys, a lot of dolls, yarn and yarn goods, clothes and a lot of radios, a TV and different items for the home - all of them from the last century. I remember those cute little shops and miss them and get very nostalgic when I visit Beggubúð.
Opening hours are: June 1st - August 31st every day from 11:00-17:00.
Admittance fee: Free entrance.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
Address: By Vesturgata 6, 220 Hafnarfjörður
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There is such a lovely park in Hafnarfjörður - Hellisgerði park. It is no ordinary park, it is located in a lava field, which adds to the magic of the park - and of course one can encounter some hidden people here and other mystical beings invisible to the naked eye. But some mediums have seen them and a map has been made of where they live in Hellisgerði park. The link I add is the one of the Elfgarden, it is an interesting website. They offer Elf Walks and Elf oracle readings.
I love going here, walking down to the pond and the small waterfall. And up the stairs in between lava formations and into the open sheep cave where people picnic or sunbathe.
There are information signs all over the park with stories and photos from the past and people reminiscing their childhood at this lovely park. They are called "Ég man..." or I remember... There has been a park here for 90 years, since 1923, so there are a lot of stories to be told... I have some fond memories from this park as well.
A small part of the park is a Bonsai park - the northern most Bonsai park in the world :)
On the top of the hill, above the lava field is a statue/bust of the father of Hafnarfjörður, my ancestor, Bjarni Sívertsen, who owned land here at the park.
There is a kindergarten by the park so this is a lively place and so lovely to visit. And photo shoots are popular here, both of students graduating and wedding photos.
Don´t miss if you are in this area, it is so lovely.
Updated Dec 29, 2012
Address: By Reykjavíkurvegur, 220 Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
Website: http://www.elfgarden.is/
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