Fengur - Accession

Fengur - Accession is the name of a new exhibition at the National Museum of Iceland that in many ways reflects the museum's diverse activities. New acquisitions is a generic term for everything that comes to the National Museum and is added to its collection each year. Some are donated to the museum, some must be returned to the museum by law, and others are collected in an organized manner.

Upon receipt at the museum, these new acquisitions become national property. When photographs, artifacts, documents, or houses are received, care must be taken and many things must be considered. This work is carried out by different specialists within the museum, and the exhibition provides a glimpse behind the scenes.

The collection of the National Museum is divided into four collections: collection centre, a photography collection, a ethnology collection, and historic houses. The collection centre contains a wide variety of objects from the possession of individuals and institutions, including finds from excavations, artifacts found during archaeological research, and antiques found by chance in the open. The photography collection contains all kinds of visual material, and the ethnographic collection preserves people's descriptions of old ways of life and their experiences of individual events and social changes. The historic houses collection preserves Icelandic architectural heritage, in about 40 locations across the country.

The exhibition features a selection of new acquisitions in the National Museum of Iceland from the years 2020-2024. For example, skull fragments found in the Minister's Residence on Tjarnargata in 2023 and garnered considerable media coverage. There is also a photograph of the first helicopter brought to Iceland, a unique 17th-century velvet hat from Þingeyri, a fine haddock chessman from the 12th-13th centuries and numerous other interesting artifacts.

The collection is registered in the online database Sarpur: www.sarpur.is‍

The exhibition Fengur - New Resources is on the second floor of the National Museum on Suðurgata. The exhibition will run until the end of 2025 and is open every day during the museum's opening hours (10 am-5 pm).