Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art
Hafnarfjörður's art centre on Strandgata, with changing exhibitions and a midday concert series.
Hafnarborg was created after the pharmacist Sverrir Magnússon and his wife Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir gave their house, their art collection and a sum of money to the town of Hafnarfjörður in 1983 on condition that a centre of culture and fine art be established. The institution opened in its present building on Strandgata, in the centre of the old harbour town, in 1988. It is run by the municipality and serves as both the town's art museum and a general venue for concerts and public events.
The collection now holds roughly 1,600 works, including paintings, drawings, prints, photography, video and three-dimensional pieces, together with outdoor sculpture around the town. Two galleries on separate floors carry a programme of temporary exhibitions of Icelandic and international contemporary art, design and craft, changing several times a year, and the autumn exhibition is a fixture of the calendar. The main hall doubles as a concert space, and the centre runs a long-standing series of short midday and afternoon recitals alongside talks and guided tours.
Highlights
- Collection of around 1,600 Icelandic artworks built from a 1983 private gift
- Two exhibition floors with a changing contemporary programme
- Regular midday and afternoon concerts in the main hall
- Annual autumn exhibition surveying current Icelandic art
