Technical Museum of East Iceland

About Technical Museum of East Iceland

The Technical Museum of East Iceland tells how electricity, machinery and the telegraph reached Iceland, and it does so from a town still rebuilding after a landslide. Known locally as Tækniminjasafn Austurlands, it sits on Hafnargata in Seyðisfjörður, where the first submarine telegraph cable came ashore in Iceland in 1906.

On December 18, 2020, a large landslide hit the Búðareyri area of town and destroyed or badly damaged most of the museum's historic buildings. A good part of the collection was lost, although many objects were rescued. Since then the museum has worked without a permanent main building while it plans a new home in a safer part of town.

Today's exhibition, Búðareyri: Stories of Transformation, fills the surviving part of the old machine shop and spills outside onto the foundations of houses lost in the slide. It mixes old and new technology, runs in Icelandic and English, and works well for kids. Outdoor displays near the ferry terminal can be seen at any hour.

Seyðisfjörður is about 30 minutes from Egilsstaðir over the Fjarðarheiði pass on Route 93, and the Norröna ferry docks a short walk away. The exhibition opens Monday to Saturday from mid-May to mid-September and by appointment in winter. Admission is ISK 1,500 for adults, ISK 1,000 for students and seniors, and free for children 12 and under, and about an hour covers the indoor and outdoor displays.