July 16
Sunrise 02:51
Sunset 23:34
Siglufjörður
One wouldn't think that a museum dedicated to the history of herring fishing and processing in a small Icelandic town would necessarily be inspiring, but the Herring Era Museum in Siglufjörður really impressed me. The museum traces the boom and bust of the town's herring industry. The community worked to collect artifacts and oral histories of this era in their town. The museum was so well put together - they had a performance/reenactment by some original "herring girls", fishing boats and processing equipment on display, as well as a recreation of the employee sleeping quarters. Our guide was so passionate about preserving and sharing the history and stories of her community and about the collective effort to create and build upon the museum.
What an amazing way to uplift a community and place-based history. Every community has a history and identify worth preserving. This is a theme I saw in almost all the communities we visited in Iceland. No matter how small in population, I could feel the pride in their past, and in how they over came obstacles both economic and environmental.
(The Herring Museum reminded me of the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side of NYC, another incredible example of placed-based history that gathers generations of oral histories along with traditional artifacts and displays. )
Akureyri
I ❤️ love.
