The Settlement Exhibition — Attraction in Reykjavik

This was one of the cooler museums I have ever been to. The historical aspect of the settlement is really cool, and as a history nerd I love that they built the exhibit over the settlement instead of trying to recreate it elsewhere. It was absolutely unique and preserves such a historical find for a country.

One of the minor details that I really appreciated was the glass cut out above the settlement that shows how far under it was from the surface in downtown Reykjavik. It really helped provide perspective to the fact that history could be just under the surface of any really old civilization. In the US it's a lot harder to relate, since our history is relatively short.

I do give it a 4, simply because the level of information/interest is pretty small in comparison to other museums. It's a really cool exhibit, but beyond the longhouse itself, I found it to be rather lacking. Seeing this plus going to the National Museum of Iceland is a good rounded experience, but the national museum is far superior for...

The Settlement Museum retells the history of human occupation of Iceland in general, and Reykjavik in particular, starting with the earliest archaeological evidence -- an excavated long house, in situ under the museum building.

The deep recreation and explanation of the structure is the highlight of the exhibit. The added info of Reykjavik over the centuries was also highly interesting, though, as a non-resident who knows little of that history, it felt like I was missing a lot of details and bigger picture understanding.

The weakest aspect is the more modern retelling -- from WW2 to the present -- an era of incredible growth and increased sophistication, but glossed over into a simple photomontage and a discussion of housing in the 40s-50s.

Definitely worth a visit for anyone coming to Reykjavik and wanting to know more about the place and its distant history. Very well...

A must visit for anyone in Reykjavik who is interested in history, the Vikings or the early Middle Ages. There aren't a ton of Viking sites like this so this is a very important find. The majority of the longhouse dates from 930 to 1000 AD.

The Viking longhouse is much larger and more impressive then in photos. The museum does a wonderful job of pointing out different places on the longhouse and giving you a good history of early Iceland and Reykjavik. The light sound of waves and animal noises really puts you in the mood.

The different media to help you reimagine the parts of the longhouse that did not survive is also very cool and helpful. Most of the walls aside from the stone and some of the turf no longer exists so these remakes of help you visualize what the structure used to be.

This and the Arbaer open air museum are must visits for history...