Opening ceremony of the Cold Lights, 13th December – All welcome

Christmas at our Folk Museum

The Hafnarfjörður Folk Museum is getting into the Christmas spirit and invites all families to take part in the museum's varied programme over the festive season.

Everyone is invited to the opening of the exhibition on 13 December at 5 p.m. The Lights in Hafnarfjörður, 1904 which is about when the first houses in Hafnarfjörður were electrified 120 years ago. The exhibition will be opened with a ceremony in the glass pavilion in the underpass by Hamarskotslæk. Mayor Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir will give a short speech.

Jóhannes Jóhannesson Reykdal built the station at Hörðuvellir. He built the power station single-handedly and ran it until 1909, when the Borough of Hafnarfjörður bought it. The Hamarskotslækur festival, in his memory, is then held over the weekend. See more here.

We recommend dressing for the weather as the opening is outdoors. It is best to park at Hörðuvallaleiksskóli and approach the underpass from that side. You are welcome!

Other interesting things at the Folk Museum in the run-up to Christmas:

• The themed exhibition is in the Packhouse. A village will become a town. The development of Hafnarfjörður from 1960 to 1975 is presented. Visitors have the opportunity to step into a living room from the era, where Christmas music will be playing from a record player.
• The exhibition is also So it was… ...its place in the Packhouse, which covers the history of Hafnarfjörður from the settlement period to the present day. On the top floor of the building is the museum's ever-popular toy exhibition. It is aimed particularly at children.
• Beggubúð will, of course, be illuminated with Christmas lights and beautiful Christmas decorations in the window, which can always be admired when walking through the gate behind the Packhouse.
• During Advent, Father Christmas will visit the children at the Sivertsen House in collaboration with the town's nursery schools, and staff from the Folk Museum will tell visitors how Christmas was celebrated in times past.

Open every weekend from 11:00 – 17:00, and free entry, as all year round.

More about the Cold Lights

The exhibition is about the milestone when the first public electricity supply in Iceland was put into operation in Hafnarfjörður in 1904. There is an interesting account of the beginning of electrification in Iceland by Gísli Sigurðsson, which he wrote based on the account of Árni Sigurðsson, the country's first electrician. It states, among other things.

„One evening in early December 1904, there was an unusually great deal of foot traffic on the paths in Hafnarfjörður. People of all ages were out and about: men and women, old men and old women, boys and girls. All these people had an urgent errand to run to a small shed attached to J. J. Reykdal's „Timber Mill“, which stood at the upper end of Moldarflötin, south of the Hafnarfjörður stream. The entire crowd stood in front of the shed, pressing against the door. But on the floor stood as many people as could fit, arranged around a peculiar object:

„The first electric light engine has arrived here in Iceland“. /…/ The generator was to be connected to the waterwheel that powered the factory. Then the waterwheel was set in motion. A handle was turned and a belt was placed over a pulley, and at once the generator began to turn, and at that moment the great miracle occurred. In a small glass globe, which hung from the ceiling of the shed, glowing threads began to appear, dim at first but gradually becoming clearer until they shone with the brightest light.“

 The background to this matter was that in the summer of 1904, Jóhannes Reykdal sailed to Norway and bought a 9 kW generator there, which he connected to the shaft of the alternator that he had used with the woodworking machines. Jóhannes hired a newly qualified electrical engineer, Halldór Guðmundsson, to oversee the work and the laying of power lines to selected houses in the town, while the carpenter Árni Sigurðsson, later the country's first electrician, handled the internal wiring. Sources are somewhat unclear as to the number of houses that were electrified in early December 1904; some sources state that four street lamps were installed and electricity was connected to 16 houses, while others suggest the number was slightly lower.

Hafnarfjörður Christmas Magazine 2024 – online edition: