The manuscripts get a police escort

This Saturday, a new exhibition was opened at the Reykjavík City Museum next to the Settlement exhibition in Aðalstræti. The exhibition features manuscripts from the Árni Magnússon institute for Icelandic studies which are all related to the settlement and history of Reykjavík. This valuable piece of cultural heritage was transported last Thursday to its new home accompanied by a police escort. 

"The preservation of the Icelandic manuscripts in Reykjavik are one of the reasons that the city has been awarded the title of UNESCO city of literature and the city aims to keep this cultural heritage visible," explains museum director Guðbrandur Benediktsson. "The city authorities decided last year to go forward with this idea and the Árni Magnússon institute has set up this exhibition, which is designed by Icelandic artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, in Aðalstræti, the oldest street in Reykjavík where the ruins of the first settlement in the city were found. In this manner we have placed archeological and cultural evidence together in one exhibition. 

The exhibition features four manuscript and one ancient letter, all related to the settlement of Reykjavik. The manuscripts are Landnámabók, Íslendingabók, Kjalnesingasaga and Jónsbók and the letter record the sale of Reykjavik. The exhibition also uses multimedia to shed further light on the topic. The manuscripts which have been preserved in a secured storage room at the institute have now received a new home. "We made kind of bunker for them," says Benediktsson and laughs, as obviously these manuscripts are extremely valuable."They're Iceland's offering to the world's cultural heritage." 

The Settlement Exhibition in Aðalstræti has become extremely popular with tourists and to meet this increase in visitors, the exhibition will be open until 8 p.m to cater to those who may be on daytours from Reykjavík. The new manuscript exhibition is now open daily. 

For further information  click here.