Skyr making at the Outdoor Museum

One of the best ways to get to know 18th to 19th century Iceland is to visit Árbær Museum (Icelandic: Árbæjarsafn). It is an open air museum with many old houses that form a village, and an old farm. The museum is situated just 8 kilometres away from the city centre, away from loud traffic and city noise, which is nice since one of the aims of the museum is that visitors experience Reykjavík as it was in the past (with few or no cars). The architecture of the houses differs, as they are from different eras. Inside most of the houses are exhibitions, some show the everyday life of people from the era the house was built, others the development of Reykjavík, or artwork. As there were still farms in the city of Reykjavik not too far back, there are domestic animals at the museum. This makes a visit to the museum particularly interesting for the younger generation.

July 19th, the focus will be on the rural society of day gone by. In the minds of many, the old rural chores have a romantic feeling, but to feed and clothe people was however never an easy task. The Museum staff will provide guests with an insight into this lost world and guest will have an opportunity to assist in the household of the farm Árbær. In the past it was every woman's essential knowledge to know how produce different kind of food using cow’s milk and use wool to make clothes. In the kitchen skyr – Icelandic traditional yoghurt – will be made as well as butter. In the sitting room there will be maids spinning on a spinning wheel and ropes made from horse hair. A blacksmith will be in the forge and a jeweller at work in the jeweller’s workshop.

The program will start at 13.00. It is well worth the visit to see how life went on in rural Iceland, pet a cow and perhaps participate in some interesting chores?