Christmas Trees from the National Museum‘s Collection
Wooden and metal Christmas trees are on display at the National Museum of Iceland during the holiday season. The trees were popular in Icelandic homes in the first half of the 20th century.
The earliest documentation of Christmas trees in Iceland is from the middle of the 19th century. They first appeared in homes of Danish merchants and Icelandic officials who had learned of this custom in Copenhagen. In the last decades of the 19th century, Christmas trees caught on among the well to do and around 1900 Christmas trees and decorations were being advertised in stores.
The first Icelandic Christmas trees were often made from wood since spruce was uncommon and import was inhibited by a long sea journey. Trees were imported to some degree in the 1920’s but the practice was mostly discontinued during the recession and did not gain momentum again until after WWII. Hence, homemade trees were the most common type of Christmas tree until the 1950’s.
In the 1970’s Icelandic spruce and pine entered the market and now have their own share in the market for Christmas trees. Artificial trees are becoming more popular as some find them easier to deal with than real trees.