In partnership with the Icelandic Bathing Culture Exhibit hosted at Hönnurnarsafn, the Icelandic Museum for Design and Applied Arts, I’m sharing how Iceland’s beloved bathing culture evolved.

Sund, which is the name of the Icelandic Bathing Exhibit, shares fascinating facts. One of my favorites is that a failed gold rush in Iceland is what led to geothermal energy being pumped to communal swimming pools and people’s homes in the early 1900s.

Map of public pools in Iceland at the Icelandic bathing culture exhibit

What to Expect at The Icelandic Bathing Culture Exhibit

The combination of history and interactive stations provides a fun and insightful experience into how Icelanders built pools for survival and hygiene but later evolved the use of them into foster community and well-being.

The bathing culture exhibition is available to check out until October 23rd, 2022, so I highly recommend putting it on your list of places to visit.

Interviewing the Director of Hönnunarsafn

During my interview for this podcast episode with Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, Director of Hönnunarsafn, we talk about why it was important to have this exhibition and other topics relating to Icelandic bathing culture.

Here are some of the questions I asked Sigríður about the Iceland Bathing Culture Exhibition:

  1. Why was it important to create an exhibition about Icelandic bathing culture?
  2. Did anything surprise you while helping to curate the exhibition?
  3. What impact has Icelandic swimming pools had on you personally?
  4. What is your favorite Icelandic word or phrase?

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About the Author
Jewells is a native New Yorker that fell in love with an Icelander and now lives in one of the most fascinating countries in the world. As the host of the All Things Iceland podcast, she shares about Icelandic culture, history, language and nature. When she is not making podcast episodes or YouTube videos, you can find her attempting to speak in Icelandic, hiking up mountains, reading books and spending time with her family.

2 comments on “From a Failed Gold Rush to Hot Tubs: How Icelandic Bathing Culture Evolved

  1. Jaye says:

    Hi Jewel,

    My name is Jaye and I will be traveling, alone to Reykavik on 10/9. I am traveling from the Hudson Valley of NY. Love Love your youtube vid. I like to research before I travel and the videos were super helpful. Since I am traveling alone, can you recommend places that are sociable with tours and groups, so maybe I don’t have to eat alone everyday during my visit? This is not a catfish. Here is my Linkedin profile for verification. :)https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeebricourt/

    1. Hi Jaye. Sorry, I missed this comment. I hope you found what you were looking for.

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