Árbær Open Air Museum

Árbær Open Air Museum at Kistuhylur 4 in the Árbær district of Reykjavik is a living-history museum of relocated and preserved buildings showing daily life in Iceland from the 18th to the 20th century. It grew out of the old Árbær farm, recorded since the 16th century, which the city took over in the 1950s. Over the following decades historic buildings from central Reykjavik were moved to the site to save them from demolition, creating a small village of about 20 structures. The central exhibit is the Árbær farmhouse, a turf house with a row of gables and interlinked rooms, which shows how families lived, cooked, and worked in traditional Icelandic dwellings built from turf, stone, and timber. Around it stand townhouses, a church moved from Silfrastaðir in Skagafjörður, a harbour-side house, shops, and workshops, many furnished to period. The curatorial approach is immersive and thematic: rather than a chronological gallery, each building presents a trade or household, and in summer costumed staff demonstrate baking, textile work, and farm tasks. Collections inside include tools, clothing, toys, and domestic objects, and a permanent exhibition covers Reykjavik's development as a town. Turf roofs and timber walls require regular conservation, and the museum maintains them with traditional techniques. The museum is run by Reykjavik City Museum (Borgarsögusafn), which publishes opening times and events at borgarsogusafn.is. The site's green slopes and farm animals make it popular with families, and it lies close to the Elliðaár valley for walks. A visit complements the Settlement Exhibition and the National Museum, showing how rural Iceland lived in the centuries after the settlement.