Eldheimar — Attraction in Vestmannaeyjabær

It turns out, I might be really into volcanoes. I started my trip to Iceland assuming I wouldn't waste any time in a museum because there's so much neature to explore. We got to the Westman Islands and first hiked to the crater where the volcano exploded, and saw a wonderful view of the island. Then we hiked around the lava fields, just turning left and right when we wanted. We listened to some locals talking to other people on guided tours about the eruption and aftermath. We read any of the signs we came across. And eventually we decided, we might as well go to the museum. This museum is so interesting! It's divided in 7 sections, with an audio tour that is very interesting. The museum doesn't have a ton of artifacts, so without the audio tour you could be done within 10 minutes if you wanted to be. But this audio tour was amazing! It was captivating, to the point that at the end of each section when we looked around at the things and were ready to move on, my partner and I just stood listening to the rest of the tour section. The excavated house was incredibly cool to see, I've never been that close to actual history before. There were a number of other interactive exhibits that were interesting and informative. Upstairs, there is an exhibit about Surtsey - which I had never heard of before. It was incredibly interesting and something I plan to Google more on later. Overall, this was a great stop in the Westman Islands and worth...

[September 2021] A spectacular museum experience that highlights not only the unpredictability and power of mother nature, but also the resilience of the Icelandic people throughout history. The museum featured a gps triggered audio guide, which although was interesting in concept ran into some technical issues in practice, as at some points the GPS registered me being in an area I wasn’t, and vice versa. I think a more user-friendly alternative would have been being able to manually trigger audio sections vs. gps based. The exhibits were an important piece of history from the 1973 Eldfell Volcano eruption on Heimaey, from preserved ruins of homes which were caught in the destruction, to panels of photos taken from the incident and interactive displays. The audio guides provided an incredible atmospheric edge to the museum with sound recordings and narratives, which worked very well. I highly recommend a hike up Eldfell itself AFTERwards, which is situated close by. The museum provides important context which will enrich the hike...

Nice museum but it succombs to the modern museum fab, everything must be multimedia. There are hardly any texts at the exhibits, so you are forced to listen the whole speak through, before you know if it interests you

The very intetesting exhibit on the first floor about Surteyis a very welcome bonus with many pictures and scientific explanations. BUT it was also marred by the museum scurge. Three screens with interesting data on geological, and plant development. It took about 20 minutes to wait for all the pictures to come up with a very little text in the corner, where the English text was artfully delayed a few seconds. Give us a picture and text on the wall. There are a few people left that can read and understand. If you want easier text renewal, put it on tablet or touch screen.

Give us an animation computer and/or photo that shows the chronological progression in Heimaey and Surtsey and discard that silly wheel which is so hard to turn, that most people don't...