A recap from the Whale Museum’s history: 1998

 On June 17th 1998 the museum moved in a 200 m2 area in a old baiting shed by the harbor called „Verbúðir“. In the next years the museum gained more popularity as it dwelled in a good relationship with the neighbours who were mostly fish baiting workers.

The Whale Museum’s home from 1998-2002 was on the upper floor of „Verbúðir“, old baiting sheds which were still serving its original purpose on the lower floor.
Þorvaldur Björnsson from the Icelandic Institute of Natural History making the bones ready for the exhibitions.
The number of skeletons increased bit by bit over the years. The Killer Whale was added in 2001.
Ásbjörn Björgvinsson, the Whale Museum’s managing director from 1997-2008 on the grand opening of the museum’s new home in 1998.

A recap from the Whale Museum’s history: 1997

The predecessor of the Húsavík Whale Museum was a small exhibition in Hotel Husavik that opened in 1997. At the time whale watching was beginning its third season in Húsavík‘s Skjálfandi bay and the growing popularity gave the Húsavík Hotel‘s manager Páll Þór Jónsson the idea to open an exhibition dedicated solely to whales. He contacted Ásbjörn Björgvinsson and convinced him to move to Húsavík, create the exhibition and to be the official caretaker.

An article from „Morgunblaðið“ about the brand new exhibition at Hotel Húsavik in 1997.

Ásbjörn went to London to meet Natural history museum‘s curator Richard Sabin. The main purpose was to learn whalebone cleaning as the London‘s Natural History Museum is the biggest skeleton museum in the world. Richard Sabin has been in some connection with Húsavík whale museum ever since. He for an example directed operations when whalebones were dug out in Keflavík á Ströndum in 2001 which you can read more about in the museum‘s biology room. Most recently Mr. Sabin was one of the headliners at the Whale Museum’s annual Whale Congress in 2019.

Richard Sabin and Ásbjörn Björgvinsson in a good mood, in the dugout of whalebones at Keflavík á Ströndum in 2001.

Ágrip úr sögu Hvalasafnsins: 1997

Forveri Hvalasafnsins á Húsavík var lítil sýning í sal félagsheimilisins á efri hæð Hótels Húsavíkur sem opnaði árið 1997. Á þessum tíma voru áætlaðar hvalaskoðunarferðir í boði þriðja árið í röð frá Húsavík og fékk hótelstjóri staðarhótelsins Páll Þór Jónsson þá hugmynd að opna sýningu á hótelinu tileinkaða hvölum. Ásbjörn Björgvinsson var fenginn til að leiða verkið og flutti hann norður ásamt fjölskyldu sinni í janúar 1997.

Þessi blaðagrein birtist í Morgunblaðinu þegar sýningin á Hótel Húsavík var orðin að veruleika.

Ásbjörn fór til Englands á Breska náttúrusögusafnið á fund Richard Sabin sýningarstjóra safnsins í þeim tilgangi að læra að verka af hvalbeinunum en þar er að finna stærsta beinagrindasafn heims. Richard Sabin hefur verið í tengslum við safnið og Húsavík allar götur síðan. Hann stjórnaði til að mynda aðgerðum við uppgröft hvalbeina á Keflavík á Ströndum árið 2001 en þeim fundi er gerð betur skil í einu af sýningarrýmum safnsins.

Richard Sabin og Ásbjörn Björgvinsson á góðri stundu við uppgröftinn í Keflavík á Ströndum.

Richard

A recap from the whale museum’s history: 1992-1995

The Húsavík Whale Museum opened an anniversary exhibition in May 2019 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

In the next weeks, some parts of the museum’s story will be reveiled here on the museum blog. We begin our journey in 1992 because as in all good stories there is always a preface behind it.

The origin of the Húsavík whale museum can be traced to whale watching tours that were operated in Höfn from 1992-1994 on the initiative of Discover the World. In the first trip were a british guide Mark Carwardine and Ásbjörn Björgvinsson which would later establish the Húsavík whale museum. The tours took about 8 hours. In 1994 scheduled whale watching tours in Húsavík were operated for the first time by the company Sjóferðir Arnars. In the following year a few groups arrived to Húsavik for whale watching, f.e. from Discover the World. Whale sightings had decreased in Höfn at the time but Húsavík which was known as an old minke whaling area had also its advantages for a whole lot shorter distances than the tours in Höfn‘s area. In 1995 a whale watching course was held in Keflavík where foreign speakers gave an inside knowledge about whale watching as a phenomenon. One of the speakers was Erich Hoyt. By the summer of 1995 two whale watching companies, North Sailing and Sjóferðir Arnars were opertaring from Húsavík harbor on a daily basis.

Mark Carwardine with the Húsavík Whale Museum’s former project manager Huld Hafliðadóttir.
Erich Hoyt has been connected with the icelandic whale watching industry since its establishment. His latest visit to Iceland in 2019 included a talk at the Whale Museum’s Whale Congress.
A humpback whale takes a dive in the early years of icelandic whale watching.