Informationen über: Nonsense Museum

Flateyri on its spit, Önundarfjörður. Photo: Steinninn, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Nonsense Museum, known in Icelandic as Dellusafnið, is a small private collection of everyday objects in the fishing village of Flateyri on Önundarfjörður in the Westfjords. It occupies the upper floor of Hafnarstræti 11, a municipal building on the village's main street, above the Gunnukaffi cafe.

The Icelandic name comes from "della", a word that means both nonsense and a craze or obsession, which is a fair description of what is inside: rows of ordinary things, sorted by type, that collectors could not stop collecting.

Key Takeaways About Dellusafnið

• The Nonsense Museum (Dellusafnið) is a collection of everyday objects founded by Jón Svanberg Hjartarson, upstairs at Hafnarstræti 11 in Flateyri.
• Flateyri is about 23 km (25 minutes) from Ísafjörður via the Vestfjarðagöng tunnel and Route 64; about 410 km from Reykjavík.
• Opening hours and admission are not reliably published; ask at Gunnukaffi downstairs or the Old Bookstore.
• The museum is reached by stairs; Flateyri also has the 1914 Old Bookstore, the avalanche memorial and a swimming pool.
• Summer (June to September) is the season for Flateyri's small museums and cafes.

Why visit the Nonsense Museum

The museum was founded by Jón Svanberg Hjartarson of Flateyri, who asked the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær in 2011 for a space to house his "Dellusafn", and whose lease on the upper floor of Hafnarstræti 11 was confirmed by the town council in 2015.

The collections are exactly what the name promises: police caps and uniforms, matchbooks, pens, boxes, sugar cubes and model ships, arranged in rows and themed displays. The Port of Ísafjörður describes it as a venue for passionate collectors to show collections amassed over years or decades.

Flateyri harbour in Önundarfjörður. Photo: Hornstrandir1, CC BY-SA 4.0

It rewards slowing down. Each category records where the collectors and their friends travelled, and the repetition of near-identical objects is the point. Children tend to enjoy it, and adults usually spot at least one item from their own childhood.

The museum is one of several small museums in Flateyri, a village of just under 200 people. A few doors away is the Old Bookstore (Verslunin Bræðurnir Eyjólfsson), founded in 1914 and described as the oldest original shop in Iceland, run by the same family for four generations, with a museum of the merchant's home upstairs.

Flateyri has been a trading post since 1792 and a licensed trading place since 1823; around 1890 the Norwegian Hans Ellefsen made it a whaling base, and the population passed 500 in the 1960s. On 26 October 1995 an avalanche from the mountain Eyrarfjall killed 20 people here; the large deflection dams above the village were built afterwards.

In January 2020 two avalanches overtopped the dams, one hitting a house and the other the small-boat harbour, where six of seven boats were damaged, but no one was killed. A memorial to the victims stands by the church.

How to get to the Nonsense Museum

Flateyri is about 23 km from Ísafjörður, around 25 minutes by car. Take Route 60 from Ísafjörður into the Vestfjarðagöng tunnel and exit on the Önundarfjörður side; this 4 km branch of the tunnel is single-lane with passing bays, so follow the give-way signs.

Then follow Route 64 (Flateyrarvegur) around the head of the fjord and out along the north shore to the village. Both roads are paved and open all year, though winter storms can close them.

Hafnarstræti is the main street along the harbour; there is free parking on the street and by the harbour, and the museum entrance is at Hafnarstræti 11, a short walk from the Old Bookstore and the Vagninn restaurant.

From Reykjavík the shortest drive is about 410 km (around 6 hours) via Routes 1 and 60 through the southern Westfjords; the route along Ísafjarðardjúp on Route 61 is about 470 km (around 7 hours). Alternatively, fly to Ísafjörður (under an hour) and drive from there. Flateyri is also a stop on the Westfjords Way (Vestfjarðaleiðin) touring route.

Avalanche memorial and dams, Flateyri. Photo: Christian Bickel, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE

Best time to visit

Flateyri's small museums and cafes operate mainly in summer, from around May or June to September; outside that season the Nonsense Museum may open only by arrangement.

Summer also coincides with the village's sandcastle competition on the beach across the fjord and with the sea-angling season. If you are visiting in the shoulder months, ask at Gunnukaffi downstairs or the Old Bookstore whether the museum can be opened.

Safety and practical tips

• Opening hours, admission and whether the museum is open in the current season are not published online in a reliable form; check locally (Gunnukaffi downstairs or the Old Bookstore) before planning your day around it.
• The museum is on an upper floor reached by stairs.
• Flateyri has cafes, a restaurant and pub, a small shop, a hostel and self-catering flats, a campsite and a swimming pool with hot tubs.
• The 1995 avalanche memorial by the church and the deflection dams above the village are a short walk from the harbour.
• In winter, check road.is for the status of Route 64 before setting out.