Minutes of the 23rd meeting of the Museum Council, Lyngás 7-9, 210 Garðabær,
November 27, 2003, at 11:30 AM.
Present were: Ólafur Kvaran, Sigrún Ásta Jónsdóttir, Anna Guðný Ásgeirsdóttir, and Rakel Halldórsdóttir.
1. The minutes of the 22nd meeting were approved and signed. A few signatures are still needed on the minutes of the 22nd, 21st, and 20th meetings, and they will be addressed at the next meeting.
2. Director's Report. The director reported on the council's activities since the last meeting. The office of the Museum Council has been moved to the National Museum building on Suðurgata. The office is on the ground floor, in a bright and open space. An amendment to the draft budget, which proposed a 22 million króna increase in the appropriation for the Collections Fund (parliamentary document 435 – item 1), was rejected by the Althingi.
3. Report to the Board of Trustees:
a. Request from the City of Reykjavík, on behalf of the Reykjavík Museum of Cultural History, for a construction grant to build an exhibition pavilion for the settlement remains at Aðalstræti. Continued discussion from the 22nd meeting. According to Article 11 of the Museum Act, it is the role of the Museum Council to approve the proposed facility and its establishment costs. The request was referred to the National Monuments Authority for consideration of whether the facility meets the requirements for the protection of archaeological remains. A positive response was received from the National Monuments Council. Regarding the establishment costs, the matter was referred to a cost estimate by the State Real Estate Agency. The State Real Estate Agency has responded to the request and does not consider itself in a position to assess the feasibility of the cost estimate, referring instead to the National Project Administration. It was decided to forward the request to the National Project Administration for a professional assessment.
b. A request from the Hólar Research Project to temporarily export antiquities and animal bones from the Hólar archaeological excavations for research purposes. The National Monuments Council was consulted regarding the artifacts planned for export, and for its part, it authorizes the export. It was decided to authorize the export of the archaeological artifacts, other than animal bones, as the National Museum of Natural History authorizes the export of natural history objects in accordance with Article 2 of Act No. 105/2001 on the Export of Cultural Property and the Return of Cultural Property to Other Countries, and Article 15 of Act No. 60/1992 on the National Museum of Natural History of Iceland and Regional Nature Centers.
4. Service Agreement. Signing postponed as the Ministry of Education has not completed its review of the agreement.
5. Annual Report of the Collections Fund 2002. It has come to light that there is a 3 million króna misstatement in the Collections Fund's annual report for 2002. The Ministry of Education is working to find an explanation for the misposting. The National Audit Office has requested that the account be signed and the correction made in 2003, and it was therefore agreed that the chairman would sign the account and send it to the National Audit Office. An explanation of the misposting will be included. Work will continue to determine the cause of the misposting, and a correction will be made in the 2003 annual report.
6. Meeting schedule for 2004. A new meeting schedule for 2004 was approved. Additional meetings will be held as needed.
The next meeting was scheduled for December 18.
There was no further discussion and the meeting adjourned at 1:00 PM/RH.