Byggðasafnið has never received more grants at once

The Hafnarfjörður Museum received 5.9 million ISK in grants in the main allocation of the Museum Fund of the Ministry of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education. The grants will strengthen exhibitions and the history of Hafnarfjörður in various ways this year. They are divided as follows:

• 1.1 million for the Strandstígur exhibition, where a new photography exhibition will open on 1 June.
• 1.5 million for improvements at Siggubær. A new exhibition about the working woman will be installed there, focusing on the daily lives of working women in Hafnarfjörður in the twentieth century. The exhibition opens on the first Friday in June.
• 1.5 million for a themed exhibition in the warehouse, where the sports history of Hafnarfjörður will be presented.
• 1.8 million ISK for internal work in the museum’s storage facilities. This is important work that supports all museum exhibitions in the town.

“We have never received so many grants at once,” says Björn Pétursson, town curator.

“We see this result as a reflection of the interesting projects we are working on. Good things are happening here in Hafnarfjörður. The grants show how important it is to preserve and communicate our history.”

Björn says there is exciting work ahead. “History comes alive when we look back, and this is how we ensure that we understand what we are made of.” He describes the exhibition about working women as particularly interesting.

“Sigga herself states in her will that she wants future generations to know what life was like in the twentieth century. We are illuminating the everyday lives of working women. This is a challenging task because not much has been written about ordinary women’s lives during those years.”

The grants strengthen the study of history. “We therefore say thank you.”