Two new exhibitions of photographs open in the National Museum of Iceland today documenting the rescue of ship crews by Látrabjarg, Europe’s largest bird cliff, in the mid-20th century and recent photos of winter landscapes in the northeastern highlands.

“Björgunarafrekið við Látrabjarg” with photographs by Óskar Gíslason stages the rescue of the crew members of Dhoon by Látrabjarg in 1947 and documents the actual rescue of the crew of the trawler Sargon in the same location one year later.

During the making of a documentary about Dhoon running aground, in which most of the search and rescuers who were involved in the mission acted themselves, the second accident occurred and they helped bring the crew of Sargon ashore.

Scenes from the Sargon rescue were incorporated into the documentary Björgunarafrekið við Látrabjarg which premiered in 1949 and garnered considerable attention at home and abroad.

At the exhibition there will be a description for the blind in collaboration with the Icelandic Organization of the Visually Impaired, which is the first time that such services are offered in Iceland.

The second exhibition, “Aðventa á Fjöllum” (“Advent in the Mountains”), features the result of nine winter trips by photographer Sigurjón Pétursson to the scene of the novel Aðventa by Gunnar Gunnarsson (1936) in Mývatnsöræfi in the northeastern highlands, bordering Lake Mývatn in the west, Dettifoss waterfall in the north, river Jökulsá á Fjöllum in the east and the grazing area Grafarlönd in the south.

Each picture is accompanied by a quote from Aðventa Sigurjón picked 120 sentences and fractions of sentences from the novel to inspire his shooting locations.

Aðventa tells the story of a sheep herder who risks his life to save lost sheep from the merciless Icelandic winter while others prepare the arrival of Christmas.

The photo book Aðventa á Fjöllum by Sigurjón Pétursson will be published by Salka in Icelandic, German, and English to coincide with the opening of the exhibition.

For further details about the National Museum of Iceland, go to natmus.is.

ESA