Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.07.2016, Blaðsíða 60

Ashes To Ashes
A volcano museum in the lava rubble of the Westman Islands
Words KELLEY REES Photos ART BICNICK
On the night of January 23, 1973,
the inhabitants of Heimaey in the
Westman Islands were woken by
a violent volcanic eruption. With
little warning, lava shot up to 150
metres into the air. The island-
ers rushed to gather whatever
was most precious to them. The
lava flow began to threaten the
eastern side of island’s only town,
and heavy ash fall was expected.
Within six hours of the eruption
the Icelandic State Civil Defense
Organisation had evacuated al-
most all 5,300 Westman Island
inhabitants to the mainland. The
eruption of Eldfell—“Fire Moun-
tain”—still lingers in the minds
of many.
The Eldheimar Museum, which
opened in May 2014, is dedicated
to the Eldfell eruption and its af-
termath. Now in its third year of
operation, the museum sees an es-
timated 30,000 visitors annually.
And considering the difficulties of
reaching the island south of Iceland
during the winter months, muse-
um director Kristín Jónhannsdóttir
is pleased with those numbers.
Born and bred on the island her-
self, Kristín was thirteen at the time
of the eruption, and remembers
that fateful night. “I didn’t think
it was a volcano,” she says. “I was
thinking about a war or something.
It was during the Cold War, and
Russia was always on our minds.”
Pompeii of the North
The idea of creating a museum
about the eruption surfaced about
ten years ago, when a group of
people decided to excavate some
of the ruins. The team began pok-
ing around, finding some well-
preserved houses beneath the lava;
then, five years ago, the decision was
made to build a museum that would
use the houses as the focal point.
“The islanders weren’t too cra-
zy about this idea at first,” Kristín
says. “It took time to convince
them that it would do a lot for
Vestmannaeyjar. If the mayor and
the community hadn’t said: ‘This
is interesting, let’s do this,’ we
would have never done anything
except dig a hole and have some
ruins. But they believed, so this
is something we all did. It does
something for the whole society.”
The museum holds historical
artifacts from life on the island
surrounding the eruption date, as
well as interactive features, and
the excavated houses themselves,
with high-focus lenses situated
throughout the impressively pre-
served wreckage.
However, what’s perhaps most
striking are the stories from locals,
about both the eruption, and about
island life. The museum was gath-
ers archival photographs, film, and
documentary footage, which is dis-
played throughout the exhibitions,
and there’s sentiment and emotion
in each individual narrative.
“The photographs and film
always get more interesting, be-
cause the people who remember
the occurrence are disappearing,”
says Kristín. “The documentary
we play here was made about 25
years after the volcano. Now, it’s
been nearly 45 years. I find it nice
because I’ll be walking downstairs
[where the documentary plays]
and hear the voice of my father,
who was interviewed for the film.
He died fifteen years ago, as did
many of his generation. And that
is something you cannot get back.”
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Issue 10 — 2016
60
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