Last November, it was announced that the chairman of the Húsavík Whale Museum, Þorkell Lindberg Þórarinsson, had been appointed the new director of the Icelandic Institute of Natural Sciences. Þorkell, or Lindi as he is traditionally called, had for the past 17 years held the position of director of the Nature Center of the North East, and in fact he had been the only one who had held that position since its establishment. Lindi joined the board of the Whale Museum in 2005 and had been in it for many years, including twice as chairman. He is the person who has worked for the Whale Museum for the longest time. Lindi retired from the board of the museum at the end of the year, and we thank him for his good work over the past 15 years. The Whale Museum in Húsavík and the Natural History Institute of Iceland have always been in good cooperation, and there are high expectations for this to continue. The board of the Whale Museum agreed that Jan Klitgaard will take over the chairmanship until the next general meeting, which will be held in the coming weeks.
When asked about the main changes that have taken place in the work of the Whale Museum during his tenure, Lindi mentions the operational environment of the museum, as well as the fact that its premises have undergone major changes. "When I first joined the museum's board as a deputy, the museum still had all the characteristics of Ásbjörn Björgvinsson's entrepreneurial work. He founded the museum from scratch and got it going with the help of good people, including by placing it in the old slaughterhouse and freezer of K.Þ. where the Whale Museum has grown and prospered ever since. During these years, the museum was very dependent on public grants and the goodwill of people and companies in the community here in Húsavík, who contributed to the museum in various ways. By nature, many things were very primitive at that time, both in terms of housing and operations. The museum then developed into becoming a recognized museum according to museum laws and a very well-operable unit that is very little dependent on operating subsidies, in parallel with the increase in the number of tourists. With an improved operational basis, there was room to better maintain and further improve the building and its surroundings. A big step in those matters was of course the sale of part of the ground floor to Steinsteypis ehf., with whom the museum has had a good cooperation ever since. It is therefore safe to say that a lot of changes have taken place during this time, but it must not be forgotten that it is still the whale cages that Ásbjörn began to collect and install that are the core of the museum."
Lindi says that the Whale Museum's challenges have indeed been many in the last 15 years and of various kinds. The latest challenge, the Covid-19 pandemic, is of course the one that comes to mind first. The epidemic put a big dent in the museum's operations last year, and of course it is not clear what will happen in 2021. Hopefully, however, tourism will switch over this summer and then the business should pick up quickly, because the museum has very powerful staff and it stands on a solid foundation both in terms of operations and exhibitions. Of the other challenges of the last few years, Lindi says that one could mention the operational basis in the first years that he was attached to the board of the museum and the various types of housing repairs that some have taken on. Last but not least, we could mention the cast iron frame and its installation in the museum. It took a long time and a lot of work to get the frame north to Húsavík, and when it was in port, it took a great challenge to place it and install it in the museum.
The board and executive director of the Whale Museum following the last board meeting of 2020. From left: Jan Klitgaard, Eva Björk Káradóttir, Guðrún Þórhildur Emilsdóttir, Hjálmar Bogi Hafliðason, Lilja Berglind Rögnvaldsdóttir, Þorkell Lindberg Þórarinsson, Daniel Annisius.
