Upernavik Museum
Welcome
Museum in Upernavik
Welcome to Upernavik Museum, the first local museum in Greenland!
Established by two danes: Andreas Lund-Drosvad and city treasurer Knudsen in the beginning of the 1950's.
As the former meeting hall of the town counsil was left in 1951 the privat collection of Andreas Lund-Drosvad was exhibited in the building - and since then this old church, from 1839, has been the heart of Upernavik Museum.
Beside the collections of Lund-Drosvad the local authority starts to collect unique objects related to hunting community. As an old umiaq was occubied by trading with an new modern boat made by tree.
As well is an qajaq occubied when one hunter from Aappilattoq nolonger want to be hunter and instead work as catechist.
The preservation of the qajaq went well, but as the old Umiaq concern.....:
The umiaq was towed from Upernavik Kujalleq to Upernavik. At the same time a professor Humlum from Geographical Institut from Copenhagen was arrived to Upernavik during his roundtrip in Greenland. And he saw this marvelous Umiaq placed beside the old buildings in Upernavik. He immediately ordered, with a voice filled with authority, to send the umiaq to his Institut in Denmark, and as the colonial time not far away no one imagined to argue with a man with so much authority, so the umiaq was sent to Denmark, where it was for the next 50 years or so under poorly circumstances. In 1997 was the of that time manager of Upernavik Museum made aware of whereabout of the umiaq. Then she starts to seek means to get the Umiaq home, by amongst sponsorship of Royal Arctic Line, which transported free of charge from Denmark to Upernavik, the Umiaq finally gets home.
Photos of several photographers taken in Upernavik area, taken on different periods of time have been donated to the museum.
Some of them can be seen at the Greenland national image database.
But make notice that not all picture seen there are from Upernavik Museum.
Upernivik why?
The municipilaty is today known as Upernavik, but why would we be naming our site Upernivik?
Yes, the story is that in 1936 the announcement was made by the ruler of Greenland that all future pronouncement of formerly known as Upernivik will be Upernavik! Without any explanation of why.
So why the change? There are several explanations, but all are "off the record".....
We at the museum think that it is obvious that the Museum of Upernavik site would have the "old" name as site adress.
We had made and discussion page, but mainly for the greenlandic point of view ....but any one interested can see the discussion page on upernivik-upernavik.
The Upernavik Museum Logo:
A drawing of a treecut of a puppet found at the east part of the island of Upernavik "Qattarmiut" which was populated before the actual town of Upernavik.
The logo is drawn by a teacher at Kullorsuaq, which is the northern most settlement of Upernavik community.
The old part of the town:
Upernavik Museum is located in the old part of the town which is southwest area of the island.
That location is where the trade began. The trading places back then are the towns of todays Greenland, so we can say that the trading places are essential of todays Greenland.
Upernavik Museum uses the original buildings that were used as the foundation of the establishment of trading place Upernavik.