Skogar Museum, Skogasafn, is the regional museum at Skogar in South Iceland. It stands beside the Skogafoss waterfall on Iceland's South Coast, along Route 1, the Ring Road, about two hours by car from downtown Reykjavik. The museum comprises three main sections and holds about 18,000 regional folk craft artefacts.

What Skogar Museum is and where it stands

Skogar Museum is the historical museum for the counties of Rangarvallasysla and West Skaftafellssysla. It opened on 1 December 1949 and began in the Skogar Regional School before it had buildings of its own.

The museum was founded on the initiative of Thordur Tomasson, who curated it from its inception until he retired in 2013 at the age of 92. Thordur Tomasson was born in 1921 at Vallnatun in South Iceland and began collecting old farm equipment that was being discarded as working methods modernised. Vik lies further east along the coastal route.

The folk museum collections

The folk museum collection includes fisheries, agriculture, furnishings and handcrafts, natural history, and archives. In the fisheries section, the focus is maritime heritage from the south coast, where boats were launched from open beaches rather than harbours.

Its centrepiece is the eight-oared fishing boat Petursey, built in 1855 and in use until 1946. The Petursey was donated to the museum in 1952 by Jon Halldorsson of Sudur-Vik.

The agriculture section holds tools and utensils used on farms in olden times, riding gear, haymaking tools, and dairy, woolworking and ironworking equipment. The furnishings and handcrafts section displays household items and ornamental work including needlework, weavings, woodcarvings and metalwork. The natural history section holds stuffed birds and animals, skeletons, eggs and plants, formerly the private collection of Andres H. Valberg from Skagafjordur. County records from Rangarvallasysla and West Skaftafellssysla are kept in the museum archives.

The turf farmhouse and the other historic buildings

The open air museum includes relocated historical buildings. The turf farmhouse at Skogar is a reconstruction drawing on several turf houses from different places in the area.

Inside the turf farmhouse are a badstofa, the communal room where the household slept, ate and worked, a kitchen with an open hearth, a pantry, a parlour, a store room and a cattleshed. A cattleshed-badstofa and storehouse from Grof was built over a cattleshed to benefit from the warmth of the animals.

Other buildings on the site include a schoolhouse from Litli-Hvammur in Myrdalur, typical of Icelandic country schools of the early 20th century, and a wooden house built in 1898 at Holt, Sida, which stands at the highest point on the site. There is also a small hydro-electric plant from Breidabolsstadur, Sida, next to the turf farmhouse, a church in the upper part of the museum grounds, and a span of a bridge built in 1921 over the glacial river Jokulsa at Solheimasandur.

The Museum of Transport and Communication

The Museum of Transport and Communication is the museum's technical section. It opened on 20 July 2002.

It covers the history of transport, communication and technology in Iceland in the 19th and 20th centuries, from the age of the working horse to digital communication. Exhibits include material from the National Museum of Iceland, Icelandic Mail, the Icelandic Coast Guard, and utility and emergency services organisations.

Visiting Skogar Museum

The buildings are spread across an outdoor site, so the museum is walked between indoor and outdoor spaces. Current Skogar Museum options can be compared on this page: Skogar Museum.

What to bring

Warm outdoor clothing suits a visit on the south coast, and the site's Iceland Packing List is the preparation tool.

Skogar Museum on a South Coast trip

South Coast tour options can be compared here: South Coast tours.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Skogar Museum open?

Skogar Museum opened on 1 December 1949.

How many main sections does Skogar Museum have?

The museum comprises three main sections: a folk museum, a technical museum, and an open air museum of relocated historical buildings.

What is the technical section at Skogar Museum?

The technical section is the Museum of Transport and Communication, which opened on 20 July 2002.