Árbær was a thriving farm well into the 20th century, and the museum opened there in 1957. Nowadays, it is an open-air museum with more than 20 buildings that form a town square, a village and a farm. Most of the buildings have been relocated from the centre of Reykjavik.
Old Church – Árbæjarsafn Open Air Museum Reykjavik
The history of Reykjavik dates back to the settlement of Iceland, with the first settler, Ingolfur Arnarson, claiming land at a site in what is now the city centre. Reykjavik was an agricultural holding through the years, both a church estate and a manor farm. Around the middle of the 18th century, a village grew up there in connection with a wool factory founded by the sheriff Skuli Magnusson. The town was granted its municipal charter in 1786, and during the 19th century, Reykjavik became a trading and administrative centre for the whole country, with its population of craftsmen, fishermen and labourers increasing. In the 20th century, dramatic changes took place in employment and living conditions, bringing the town into the modern world.
The Beginning of Árbær Open Air Museum
In the mid-20th century, there was a growing concern that „“old Reykjavik““ was disappearing forever. This led to the first efforts to found a museum in 1942, when the city council was presented with a petition. This request was well-received, and forwarded to The Reykjavik Society, a group dedicated to local history. The systematic collection of documents on the town’s history began around this time, forming the basis of the city’s archives.
The next development was the city’s purchase in 1945 of 118 paintings and drawings of the town by Bishop Jon Helgason. In 1947, the city council decided to found the Reykjavik City Museum and hold an exhibition on the city’s history. This event took place in the newly-built National Museum in 1949, and was the occasion of the first campaign to collect“