Ósvör Maritime Museum
About Ósvör Maritime Museum
Ósvör is an open-air maritime museum on the shore just outside Bolungarvík, the fishing town at the mouth of Ísafjarðardjúp in the Westfjords. It is a replica of a 19th-century rowing-boat fishing station, with turf-roofed stone huts, a salt house and a wooden drying shed set on a rocky beach below the mountains.
Bolungarvík was once the largest and oldest fishing station on Ísafjarðardjúp, and Ósvör shows how its crews lived during the season. Men slept in cramped huts by the landing, rowed out to the nearby fishing grounds and salted or dried the catch on shore. The setting does a lot of the explaining, because you can see how short the trip to the open sea really was.
The centerpiece is Ölver, a six-oared wooden boat built in 1941 by Bolungarvík boatbuilder Jóhann Bárðarson in the old local style. It is 8 meters long and kept fully rigged with oars, mast and rudder, so it looks ready to launch. Inside the crew hut you'll find the tools and fishing gear the men used.
Visits start with the museum guard, who greets you dressed in traditional sea clothes sewn from sheepskin and explains how the station worked. A full outfit took six to eight sheepskins, and the leather became so slippery in the water that fishermen wore a strap between the legs so the crew could haul them back aboard. Those stories are the main reason to stop, so allow 30 to 45 minutes.
The Ósvör museum is open daily from June 10 to August 20, from 10:00 to 16:00, and other times can be arranged with the museum. Admission is 1,700 ISK for adults, 1,500 ISK for seniors 67 and older, and free for children 15 and under. It sits by the main road on the Ísafjörður side of Bolungarvík, about 15 minutes by car from Ísafjörður, with a small parking area by the road just above the huts.
Good to know
What is the Ósvör Maritime Museum?
Ósvör is an open-air museum in Bolungarvík built as a replica of a 19th-century fishing station. It has turf-roofed huts, a salt house, a drying shed and the six-oared rowing boat Ölver.
Where is Ósvör?
Ósvör is on the shore just outside Bolungarvík in the Westfjords, by the road from Ísafjörður. The drive from Ísafjörður takes about 15 minutes.
When is Ósvör open?
The museum is open daily from June 10 to August 20, from 10:00 to 16:00. Outside those dates, visits can be arranged by contacting the museum in advance.
How much does it cost to visit Ósvör?
Admission is 1,700 ISK for visitors 16 and older and 1,500 ISK for seniors 67 and over. Children 15 and younger get in free.
How long do you need at Ósvör?
Plan on 30 to 45 minutes to look at the huts and the boat and hear the guide's stories. Add time for a walk along the beach if the weather is good.
What else is there to do in Bolungarvík?
Bolungarvík has a geothermal swimming pool and a campsite in town, and the Bolafjall viewpoint is reached by a mountain road above the village. Ísafjörður and its heritage museum are a short drive back through the tunnel.
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