PDF - Land og saga

Reykjavik’s Living MuseumÁrbæjarsafn museum is designed to educate and entertain all agesImagine a museum that welcomed childrento participate in the exhibition and to playwith loose artefacts. Even better, imagine anexhibition entirely designed for children.The Árbæjarsafn museum, established in1957 on the local farm, Árbær, which wason Reykjavik’s outskirts at the time, isuniquely designed for children. Progressivein its vision, the interactive museum catersto families. They can see the very housesfamilies of old used to call home. With morethan two dozen reconstructed buildings tochoose from, children are free to run fromhouse to house, roll in the grass and play withthe museum’s vast collection of toys.Do Touch!The best place to start is in the former churchand sports hall, Landakot. The child-sizedollhouses are lined up along the wall witheach one dedicated to a specific period in time,starting in a farmhouse from 1910, to an urbanhome in the 1930’s, to the new technology ofthe 1970’s and 1990’s. The most popular corneris the 1950’s food market where children canplay shop. The Altar of Toys at the far end ofthe exhibition is its most impressive feature.The interactive time-travel experienceof Landakot is intended to help childrencomprehend the vast changes fromimpoverished farming communities tovideogames over time.‘Ekki Snerta Jörðina’ or ‘Don’t Touch theGround’ is another interactive exhibitiondedicated to children’s games in 2012. Themuseum actively collects modern objectsto document contemporary life for futureexhibitions.Summer at ÁrbæjarsafnÁrbæjarsafn comes alive with livestockroaming the pastures in summer. A cow,sheep and rooster are among its summertimeresidents, giving the cluster of 26 buildingsan air of historical authenticity.In the re-constructed farmhouse of Árbæris a young lamb whose loud bleating echoesfrom the old turf farm to the top floor,where the family of Margrét Pétursdóttirwould sleep alongside the hired hand,Magnús Hanson during his fifty years ofservice to the family.The old church from Skagafjörður regionis next door and could accommodate fiftyor sixty people. The beautiful altar pieceis from 1720 and to some, resembles ‘TheLast Supper’ by Leonardo Da Vinci. Thesimple but beautiful church is perfect for aromantic country-style wedding.–jbÁrbæjarsafnKistuhyl • 110 Reykjavík+354 411 6300minjasafn@reykjavik.iswww.minjasafnreykjavikur.is38 www.icelandictimes.com