Overview
About Húsavík
A maritime community
The local maritime collection traces changes from rowing boats to motor-powered fishing vessels, including boats built in Húsavík itself. At Safnahúsið, the exhibition Daily Life and Nature brings together household objects, natural specimens and personal accounts from the period 1850–1950. These collections document the work and domestic lives of people around the bay. Whale watching subsequently became another major connection between the town and its marine environment; the Húsavík Whale Museum displays a 22-metre blue whale skeleton.
Rögnvaldur Ólafsson's timber church
Húsavíkurkirkja was built in 1907 to a design by architect Rögnvaldur Ólafsson. The timber church stands on a stone base and has a cross-shaped plan, with a tall square tower placed between two arms of the cross. Its interior remained unpainted until the artist Freymóður Jóhannsson decorated it in 1924. The building is protected as part of Iceland's architectural heritage.
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