Heritage Craft School
The Heritage Craft School was founded in 2006 by the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum to preserve traditional Icelandic building methods, with particular emphasis on turf construction, which was once widespread across Northern Europe. Practical knowledge, such as sourcing, cutting and laying turf, still survives in Iceland, but it is vulnerable due to limited funding and few opportunities to practise the craft. The Icelandic Turf House Tradition is included on UNESCO’s Tentative World Heritage List.
Turf construction is highly energy-efficient and uses local, natural materials that reintegrate into the landscape at the end of a building’s life, leaving no lasting ecological footprint. The school offers hands-on courses in turf-cutting, turf and stone building techniques, woodworking and metalworking. Teaching combines practical training with historical research and conservation law. Since 2007, more than 50 courses have been delivered, training around 500 participants from Iceland and abroad. Courses are open to both professionals and enthusiasts.
Training takes place primarily at the protected Tyrfingsstaðir farm in northern Iceland, where historic buildings serve as a “living classroom.” Eight outhouses and a seven-part farmhouse have been rebuilt and are again used for housing livestock and storing hay. The work has been supported by archaeological and historical research, including detailed measurement and documentation. Most of the surviving buildings date from 1870–1895, although research indicates settlement on the site in the 1300s.
International cooperation forms part of the programme. Students from Scotland, Norway and other countries have attended the courses. The school has participated in EU-funded Erasmus projects, including CHIST and “Our Way Heritage Lives”, and works with partners such as NTNU Trondheim, the Iceland University of the Arts and LungA School.
Public activities run alongside the training. Open Days at Tyrfingsstaðir and other sites allow visitors to observe and take part in turf-building. An annual turf symposium brings together local and international speakers and has also been streamed online as part of the European Heritage Days.
The school operates through annual project-based funding. In 2025, its budget of €48,000 was supported by grants from the Icelandic Cultural Heritage Fund and the Museum Fund, alongside contributions from the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum.
The Awards’ Jury remarked: “This project addresses the decline of traditional building skills in Europe through sustained, hands-on transmission of knowledge and practice. It presents a strong intergenerational teaching model that safeguards both the physical structures and the knowledge required to sustain them. Rooted in authenticity and high craftsmanship, and strengthened through international and academic collaboration, the initiative offers a credible model for the preservation of turf-building heritage.”
Contact: Berglind Thorsteinsdottir | Heritage Craft School/Skagafjörður Heritage Museum | berglind@skagafjordur.is | www.glaumbaer.is/en