The Herring Museum
The Herring Era Museum in Siglufjörður is Iceland's largest maritime museum, spread across three original harbour buildings from 1907 to the 1950s. Winner of the European Museum Award in 2004. Open June to August daily, admission charged.
Iceland's Most Awarded Maritime Museum, Built Inside the Original Harbour Buildings of the Herring Capital of the North Atlantic
The Herring Era Museum was founded by a grassroots volunteer organisation established in Siglufjörður in 1989, responding to concern that the physical and social history of the herring boom was being lost as the generation who lived it aged. The museum formally opened in stages through the 1990s, using the original harbour buildings rather than constructing new facilities. Róaldsbrakki is a Norwegian salting station built in 1907, when Norwegian expertise dominated the early Icelandic herring industry. Its first floor displays the equipment and process of salting herring into barrels for export, and the upper floor reconstructs the living quarters of the herring girls, the predominantly female seasonal workforce who came to Siglufjörður from across Iceland and beyond each summer to process the catch. Grána is a 1930s herring processing factory that demonstrates the reduction process by which herring were converted into fish oil and fishmeal, Iceland's first major industrial operation. The museum won the Icelandic Museum Award in 2000 and the European Museum of the Year Award in 2004.
The Boathouse recreates the atmosphere of a working 1950s herring harbour, with boats, nets, equipment, and the sounds and smells of the quayside during the peak years of the industry. Archive film footage plays throughout the museum, giving faces and voices to the statistical story of an industry that at its peak employed thousands of seasonal workers in a town of 3,000 permanent residents. The museum also provides access to the Folk Music Centre next door, which documents the tradition of Icelandic folk music and rimur chanting that the herring workers brought with them from across the country and which thrived in Siglufjörður during the boom years. Costumed guides are available in summer and can demonstrate historical equipment in operation.
The museum is on the harbourfront in central Siglufjörður, about 90 kilometres north of Akureyri via Routes 82 and the Héðinsfjarðargöng tunnels, which opened in 2010 and made the town accessible year-round without crossing mountain passes. The museum is open daily June to August from 10am to 6pm, and in May and September from 1pm to 5pm. Winter visits can be arranged by appointment. Admission is charged and covers all three buildings and the Folk Music Centre. The town's location on the Arctic Coast Way scenic driving route makes it an increasingly visited destination for self-drive travellers in North Iceland.
