Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Among the captivating hi-tech displays are interactive multimedia tables explaining the
area's excavations, a wrap-around panorama showing how things would have looked at the
time of the longhouse, and a space-age-feeling panel that allows you to steer through dif-
ferent layers of the longhouse construction. Artefacts range from great awk bones to fish
oil lamps and an iron axe. The latest finds from ancient workshops near the current
Alþingi include a spindle whorl inscribed with runes.
The museum is a joint ticket with open-air
Árbæjarsafn
, 4km east of the centre.
Reykjavík Art Museum
ART MUSEUM
(Listasafn Reykjavíkur;
www.artmuseum.is
;adult/child Ikr1300/free)
The excellent Reykjavík Art Museum is split over three well-done sites: the large, modern
downtown
Hafnarhús
focusing on contemporary art;
Kjarvalsstaðir
, in a park just east of
Snorrabraut, and displaying rotating exhibits of modern art; and
Ásmundarsafn
,
a peaceful
haven near Laugardalur for viewing sculptures by Ásmundur Sveinsson.
One ticket is valid at all three sites, and if you buy after 3pm you get a 50% discount
should you want a ticket the next day.
Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús
ART MUSEUM
8pm Thu)
Reykjavík Art Museum's Hafnarhús is a marvellously restored warehouse converted into a
soaring steel-and-concrete exhibition space. Though the well-curated exhibitions of
cutting-edge contemporary Icelandic art change frequently (think installations, videos,
paintings and sculpture), you can always count on an area with the comic-book-style paint-
ings of Erró (Guðmundur Guðmundsson), a political artist who has donated several thou-
sand works to the museum. The cafe has great harbour views.
Tjörnin
LAKE
This placid lake at the centre of the city is sometimes locally called the Pond. It echoes
with the honks and squawks of more than 40 species of visiting birds, including swans,
geese and Arctic terns; feeding the ducks is a popular pastime for the under-fives. Pretty
