Reykjavik Museum | Árbaer Open Air Museum

Reykjaviks open air museum, 7 km east of the city centre, broadly follows the pattern established at Skansen in the early 20th century. It was opened in 1957 and consists of more than 70 buildings removed from their original settings, many from Reykjavik itself, and re-erected around the ancient farmstead of Arbǽr. They include a smithy constructed from turf and stone, labourers’ houses in stone, and corrugated iron houses from the working-class quarters of the city, a lattice-work fish-drying shed, and warehouses built by a Danish trading company about 1820 at Vopnafjördhur in north-east Iceland. Other exhibits include the steam locomotive Pioner, used in the construction of the harbour and built in 1892 by Arn Jung in Jugenthal bei Kirchberg, Germany, a steam roller made by Aveling & Porter of Rochester, England, and taken to Iceland in 1912, and a drill made in Germany intended for gold drilling, imported in 1922 and used for prospecting for hot water until 1965.