“Herring made remote Siglufjordur one of Iceland's richest towns in an 'Atlantic Klondike', until the fish vanished overnight in the late 1960s and the boom collapsed.”
About Siglufjörður Herring Museum
From the early 1900s, Siglufjordur was the centre of Iceland's herring industry, its harbour packed with boats and its salting stations worked around the clock, mostly by young women known as the 'herring girls'. Overfishing and changing ocean conditions caused the stocks to crash by the late 1960s, ending the boom. The award-winning museum was built to keep that history alive.
The Herring Era Museum in Siglufjordur, a remote fjord town in north Iceland, recreates the golden age when herring made this one of the richest places in the country. Spread across restored harbour buildings, it tells the story of the boom through boats, salting stations and the workers' quarters where thousands once lived and laboured.
The Herring Era Museum in Siglufjordur, a remote fjord town in north Iceland, recreates the golden age when herring made this one of the richest places in the country.
The Atlantic Klondike
In the first half of the 20th century, vast shoals of herring drew fishermen and workers to Siglufjordur from across Iceland and beyond, and the town's population swelled in a gold-rush atmosphere often called the 'Atlantic Klondike'. Then, in the late 1960s, the herring suddenly vanished from overfishing and shifting seas, and the boom collapsed almost overnight. The museum preserves that vanished world.
The Experience
Crossing through restored buildings: a salting station where the herring girls' work is re-enacted on festival days, the workers' boarding house furnished as it was, and a harbour with old boats. The museum captures both the wealth and the brutal hard graft of the era, and the sudden silence that fell when the fish disappeared.
Why It Matters
The museum is one of Iceland's most acclaimed, and it preserves a defining chapter of the country's modern history, when a single fish built and then abandoned a town. It is a sobering, vivid lesson in how dependent Icelandic communities have been on the unpredictable sea.
The museum is one of Iceland's most acclaimed, and it preserves a defining chapter of the country's modern history, when a single fish built and then abandoned a town.
Why Visit
An award-winning, atmospheric museum of Iceland's herring boom and bust, in a beautiful and remote northern fjord well off the main tourist track.
✦ Insider Tips
- 1
Check opening hours; the museum runs full hours in summer and limited ones off-season.
- 2
Allow a couple of hours to cover the several restored buildings.
- 3
Time a visit for a festival day to catch the herring-salting re-enactment.
- 4
The drive north to Siglufjordur is scenic but remote; fuel up beforehand.
