A new definition of a museum was adopted at the ICOM World Congress held in Prague, Czech Republic, 20-28 August, with a standing ovation from the participants after a several-year approval process that involved all ICOM divisions. The new definition is as follows: “A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets …
The Museum Council would like to remind you that the last date for submitting applications for recognition according to the Museums Act No. 141/2011, in order for the application to be reviewed before the application deadline for the museum fund for the year 2023 expires, is September 15, 2022. The application form for recognition of a museum can be found here, the following documents must be included with the application: Confirmation from the owner and/or board of the museum that a request is made for …
The Museum Council's Annual Report 2021 has been published on the Museum Council's website. The report can be found here
The Museum Council collects information about the activities of recognized museums in Iceland and submits this information to Statistics Iceland. Statistics Iceland then processes the data further and collects information about other museum activities in its annual data collection. The news report states that the number of museum visitors in general decreased by 45% between 2019 and 2020 at 112 museums …
The Museum Council office will be closed for summer vacation from July 6 to August 3. If the matter is urgent, you can reach Þóra Björk, the Museum Council's executive director, at 820-5450.
International Museum Day is celebrated on May 18th every year, and the International Council of Museums, ICOM, has been organizing the day since 1977. Each year, ICOM chooses a theme for International Museum Day that relates to issues that are a hot topic in society. This year's theme is "The Power of Museums". The Icelandic Museum Awards 2022 were presented for the thirteenth time at …
We are not talking about storage – but about preservation housing! The Museum Council, the Icelandic Department of ICOM and FÍSOS are inviting you to a symposium in the Museum Building on Hverfisgata on Monday, May 9th at 13:00-16:00 under the title: We are not talking about storage – but about preservation housing! The symposium will also be streamed, see information here on the event on Facebook. The topic will be monitoring and the status of preservation issues in museums …
The Minister of Culture has allocated funds from the main allocation of the Museum Fund 2022 At the meeting of the Museum Council on February 9, the Council's recommendations on grant applications from the main allocation of the Museum Fund 2022 were approved, in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Museum Act No. 141/2011. Proposals were made to the Minister of Culture on the allocation of grants from the fund, but according to Paragraph 7 of Article 22 of the Museum Act, the Minister allocates grants from the Museum Fund …
As of today, Friday, February 25, all restrictions due to the spread of the virus have been lifted in the country. This means, among other things, that there are no longer any restrictions on the number of people in museums, nor is it mandatory to wear a mask. Good infection control practices are still encouraged, including regular cleaning of surfaces and the availability of hand sanitizer at the entrance.
New regulations on restrictions on gatherings due to the pandemic will come into effect on February 12. The following restrictions apply to museums: General restrictions on the number of people in each compartment are 200 people. Please note that the Museum Council received an exemption from Regulation No. 177/2022 from the Ministry of Health dated February 11 on behalf of museums in the country, so the previous maximum restrictions apply, 500 people with certain conditions. For every 10 …