Lovingly created over 16 years, this award-winning museum does a stunning job of recreating Siglufjörður’s boom days between 1903 and 1968, when it was the herring-fishing capital of Iceland. Set in three buildings that were part of an old Norwegian herring station, the museum brings the work and lives of the town’s inhabitants vividly to life. Start at the red building on the left, and move right.
In the first building, photographs, displays and a 1930s English film show the fishing and salting process, while upstairs the accommodation block looks as though the workers have just left. Next door is a recreated reducing plant, where herrings were separated into oil (a valuable commodity) and meal (used for fertiliser). The third building gives a sense of harbour life, with trawler boats and equipment based on life on the busy pier during the boom days.
If you’re travelling in July, herring-salting demonstrations are held at 3pm Saturdays.
