Living Viking Style: A Visit to the Viking Museum Reykjavik

(Last Updated On: August 16, 2019)
A sign written in English and in the language of Iceland that indicates that this is the Settlement Exhibition, which is also known as the Reykjavik 871 museum. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

The Reykjavik 871 Museum, also known as the Viking Museum Reykjavik and the Settlement Exhibition Reykjavik, shows how Vikings in Iceland lived circa the year 871 A.D. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Things to Do in Iceland: The Settlement Exhibition

Of all of the options for a day in Reykjavik, the Brawny Sherpa and I choose to learn more about Vikings. What better place than the Viking Museum Reykjavik?

We head to the Settlement Exhibition, more formally named the Settlement Exhibition Reykjavik 871 +/-2. It’s a very contemporary but small museum built over the remnants of a Viking settlement that date back to the year 871 or so. Ghostly apparitions depict life as a Viking, show where fires would have burned in the home, give a sense of life as a Viking.

 
 
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Elements of the Viking Settlement Exhibition are viewable from the street in Reykjavik. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini

A visit to the Viking Museum Reykjavik: Elements of the Viking Settlement Exhibition are viewable from the street in Reykjavik.
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Reykjavik Museums: The Reykjavik 871 Museum

The settlement museum itself is dark and soothing. What basically looks like a pile of rocks and dirt takes up the center of the space. The low lights and the low ceiling and the centrality of this old settlement instill a sense of reverence.

How really did these Vikings live? This would have been survival at its grittiest, unless those forebears happened to have discovered a hot spot, which, for me, were I a Viking, would have made all of the difference.

Vikings apparently conquered and took, bringing women from other places with them. Whether and to what extent the women’s accompaniment was voluntary isn’t entirely clear to me.

What remains of a Viking settlement is on display at the Viking Museum Reykjavik in Iceland. The settlement exhibition in some measure appears to just be a pile of dirt. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

What remains of a Viking settlement on display at the Viking Museum Reykjavik in Iceland.
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Viking Style on Display at This Reykjavik Attraction

While I am here, I wonder about privacy, whether there was any at all, whether women dressed in animal skins or actually had cloth. I am surprised to see beads and other adornments from this time on display. In these most rugged of conditions, someone was making an effort to look pretty. What was ‘pretty’ back then?

When functional, the Viking Settlement probably looked more like this image, which shoes a grass roof over a structure made of soil. The image is on display at the Viking Museum Reykjavik. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

A visit to the Reykjavik 871 museum: When functional, the Viking Settlement probably looked more like this image.
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

 

I clearly have much to learn about Vikings, about life in Iceland during the first millennium, about male-female roles in this time period. The Settlement Exhibition is a good place to begin an inquiry.

The Settlement Exhibition, Aðalstræti 16, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland

—Lori Tripoli

 

Remnants of tools on display at the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Remnants of tools on display at the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik.
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

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Ghostly images on display at the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik depict Viking life circa 871 A.D. Here, a funeral is conducted. Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

Ghostly images on display at the Settlement Exhibition in Reykjavik depict Viking life circa 871 A.D. Here, a funeral is conducted.
Photo credit: M. Ciavardini.

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