Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 46

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010
“Hey guys, let’s go hang out in Borgarnes!
I hear it’s a really cool place!”
Now when was the last time you heard that?
Let’s be honest: probably never. The little
town an hour and a half northwest of Reykja-
vík is usually no more than the first or last pit
stop on a road trip out of town. Knowing there
was surely more to it than meets the passer-
by-eye, we decided to trek up and see what
the deal was. As it turns out, we were com-
pletely surprised and delighted by how much
fun we had.
THE CONqUERING OF LANdS
The Settlement Centre, Brákarbraut 13-15
Our first stop was the Settlement Centre, one the
most boasted of Borganes’ attractions, opened in
2006 by actor and playwright Kjartan Ragnarsson
and his wife. For some reason, I had some kind
of preconceived idea that it was going to be all
gimmicky, like a colonialist fair or a Civil War rec-
reation. Not that that’s a bad thing! I love colo-
nialist fairs, what with all the funny hats. But this
wasn’t the case at all. The centre is housed in the
two oldest buildings in town, set side-by-side and
connected by a reception annex built right into the
side of a hill. The design of the place ingeniously
blends primitive nature with sleek modernism.
One building houses a beautiful café and restau-
rant, with a delicious smelling buffet as well as a
meeting centre, while the other one has the cen-
tre’s two exhibits.
The first exhibit on the settlement of Iceland
was a rich and interactive history lesson that
took us all the way from Viking shipbuilding to
what now lays at the original settlement sites. The
whole thing was quite impressive in its design and
technological prowess, managing to create im-
mersive spaces that didn’t feel contrived or tacky.
The second room features a ship’s prow gently
moving as if on waves and looking out to a circular
panorama of the ocean, like a Viking mechanical
bull. The exhibit continues with various diagrams,
sculptures, videos and interactive maps with ac-
companying stories, filling ones head with all sorts
of heroic and humorous tales. The entire exhibit
took roughly half an hour to go through without
stopping the audio guide.
The next one was the Egils Saga exhibition,
which depicts one of the most notable Icelandic
sagas, the one of Egill Skallagrímsson, whose fam-
ily settled the Borgafjörður region. This exhibit is
a much more theatrical and artistic representation
of the tale with a multitude of wood sculptures,
statues, dioramas and paintings lining the rooms.
These depictions range from rustic folk art to me-
dieval-style religious panels, but also mythical na-
ture-based carvings and some supremely creepy
characters made out of very authentic looking
animal skulls. Although there’s surely a lot more to
the tale, this is a great way to tell it.
My only issue with both exhibits is that without
any panels to read, one is confined to the audio
guide for information. Unless one decides to go
through just to look without learning, the minimum
time in each display is thirty minutes. Not to men-
tion how it excludes the hearing impaired. Hope-
fully in the future they will print a guide booklet as
an alternative.
MAGIC WITH STRINGS ATTACHEd
Brúðuheimar, Skúlagata 17
Our next stop was just up the road at Brúðuheimar
(the ‘Centre for Puppet Arts’). Spread throughout
three small houses near the Borganes shoreline,
this museum was a real surprise for my two co-
Travel | Borgarnes
A Borganestastic day
Learning and playing around Borgarfjörður
1. Hreppslaug
2. Brúðuheimar
3. The Settlement Centre
4. Bjössaróló
1. 2.
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