A Quick Trip Back In Time

The Settlement Exhibition recaps the history of Reykjavík

It’s no secret to any visitor to Reykjavík who has ever solicited my advice that I love the Settlement Exhibition. I’ve taken visiting family and friends there, and pop in regularly with my Reykjavík born and raised children — at least I thought it was “regularly.” Apparently I had been sleeping on an expansive addition to the exhibition that was completed sometime during those lost covid years. Luckily, the arrival of another international guest was cause for a visit and a chance to see this hyper-local gem anew.

Rewind

Though anyone meandering along Aðalstræti is sure to have spied a glass box jutting out of the sidewalk boldly marked “871±2”, it would seem from the dearth of fellow patrons during any of my visits to the Settlement Exhibition that street-level foot traffic does not translate to ticket sales. And that, dear reader, is a travesty.

What one can see if they stop to look down through that cubist skylight is the ruins of an old Viking longhouse. It is the central attraction of the original exhibition and the reason the place has the numbers 871±2 tacked on to the “Settlement Exhibition” name that the place is more commonly known as. That is the year (give or take a couple) to which the subterranean findings date.

One can unearth the wildest things when excavating land in a locale with as storied a history as Reykjavík. In 2001, when a plot of land on the corner of Aðalstræti and Suðurgata was being dug up to erect the hotel and adjacent buildings that stand there today, the crew stumbled upon what turned out to be the oldest human-made structures ever discovered in Iceland. Wild!

With such an archaeological marvel discovered, the lower level of the new development was turned into an exhibition space constructed around an unearthed Viking longhouse that is believed to have been inhabited from the years 930 to 1000, and nearby turf walls that date to approximately 871.

Embracing the old

The OG exhibition was a single-room affair that welcomed visitors to walk the perimeter of the longhouse archaeological site. The space around the longhouse has been dug down deeper than the ruins, positioning the longhouse up on a platform for closer viewing. Lit areas highlight the locations of the dwelling’s hearth, where the inhabitants would have slept and where animals were kept. Jutting out from the east-facing wall of the old building is a separate space that the accompanying text refers to as a spacious porch, suggesting that the inhabitants of this dwelling were likely a big deal in fledgeling Reykjavík.

Far from being a bunch of rocks in the centre of the room, the entire space is high-tech and interactive, giving visitors the opportunity to experience the longhouse (without actually touching it) and get a glimpse at how the earliest settlers would have lived.

Occupying the perimeter of the room are relics found at other archaeological sites in Reykjavík and on Viðey island, just off the coast. Plus, the whole room is dimly lit and infused with the sounds of birds and the sea breeze blowing through tall grass, making for a truly tranquil museum-going experience.

Discovering the new

After thoroughly enjoying the longhouse on my most recent visit to the Settlement Exhibition, imagine my surprise to find that in an alcove where there was previously an interactive video there was now a door.

Where does this go? Is this just an elaborate exit through the gift shop situation?

This is, in fact, the start of the newer portion of the exhibition, which has been expanded to occupy the neighbouring basement before leading up and into the beautiful old black timber house that stands at Aðalstræti 10.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a portal through time.

While the original exhibition room transports visitors back to the age of the settlement, the extension has them travel forward in time from there, to explore the evolution of Reykjavík from roughly the year 871 through to the establishments of the farms and markets that occupied the neighbourhood in which the museum stands today, and the further modernisation of the capital.

It is wild to examine the walls covered with old photos of the city centre, comparing everything that has changed while marveling at the little things that have not. My 101-rat children had fun finding our centenarian home on an old black and white photo of Þingholt, and examining the diorama of the city centre through a viewfinder that brings the miniature scene to life — hell, it wasn’t just the kids. My husband and I had fun doing all that, too.

The building at Aðalstræti 10 has been staged in part as the general store that once stood there, and partly as the office of the priest who once lived there. It gives off the quaint open-air museum vibes of Árbæjarsafn without having to leave the city centre.

Yes, there is also a gift shop, but not one we exited through, as our jackets had been left on the hooks in the foyer of the original exhibition space, meaning we had to see everything again in reverse to make our way back to the start — and we didn’t mind one bit.

Reykjavík has an abundance of worthwhile art galleries and exhibition spaces, but there’s something grounding about spending an afternoon in a place that allows you to connect on a deeper level with the place you’re living or visiting. The Settlement Exhibition does just that.