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Greenland National Museum and Archives. Author David Stanley.

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Greenland National Museum and Archives

The Greenland National Museum is located in Nuuk, which is the capital city of Greenland. The museum was among the first museums to be established in Greenland. The national museum was inaugurated in the mid-1960s.

 The museum’s main artefacts include artefacts related to archaeology, history, art, and handicrafts. It has information about different ruins, graveyards, buildings and more others. The museum is based in one of the warehouses in Greenland which was built in the year 1936.

Let鈥檚 learn the top 10 Fascinating Facts about Greenland National Museums

1. The Museum First Exhibition was in 1965

In the year 1965, the museum exhibited for the first time in Greenland鈥檚 Moravian Brethren Mission House. Moravian Brethren Mission House is also known as Herrnhut House.

A historical building located in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The historic house was established in 1747 from timber which was shipped to the United Brethren from the Netherlands.

The house was the centre of the Moravian Brethren Mission in Greenland and all the missionaries who operated across the west coast of Greenland. The Greenlanders converts were once reported saying, 鈥淚f it can be so beautiful here on Earth, how wonderful must it not be in Heaven鈥�.

2. It was Relocated in the 1970s

The museum was moved to its current location in Nuuk’s old colonial harbour in the late 1970s, this was due to the expansion of its collection with the repatriated native Inuit items from the National Museum of Denmark to the museum.

 In the year 1991, the National Museum and National Archives were Merged to form the Greenland National Museum & Archives.

3. The Museum Main Display is Qilakitsoq Mummies

Qilakitsoq mummies are the major displays in the national museum. The remains of these three mummies, that is, women and two six-month-old children which date to the mid-15th-century are held at the museum.

The Qilakitsoq is an important and abandoned archaeological settlement site in Greenland. It was recognized as the discovery location of eight mummified corpses which were from the Thule period. The mummies have provided important insights for about 500 years into the lives of the Inuit.

4. The National Museum displays Changes in the 1950s and Geology

The social change in the 1950s is displayed in the museum and also it houses one on geology. Some building which is nearby the museum falls under its protection.

This building includes the restocked cooper’s workshop. Furthermore, a display on the blubber vats and the presses.

5. It was the First Museum in Greenland

The museum was established in the mid-1960s as the first ever museum in Greenland. Since its establishment, the museum has always expanded its collections, this is mainly from excavations and the repatriated material from the Danish National Museum.

 The museum mainly works with different archaeology, recent history, and arts and crafts from the country. It also houses and provides conservation to the central registers of listed buildings and monuments.

The museum undertakes this conservation due to the provisions by the law on the protection of monuments and buildings. Furthermore, it participates in nature conservancy and urban planning.

The museum also advises the Greenlandic government in all affairs regarding permission for the excavation of ancient monuments.

6. The Main Purpose of the Museum is the Preservation of Materials

The national museum archive is mainly tasked to ensure the proper preservation of archival material. It is also the museum archive’s responsibility for the collection, organization, preservation, registration, research and dissemination of various Greenland cultural and social historical development.

The archive’s first law was passed on the 1st of November 1982. On January 1st 1991 the two separate institutions, the Museum and the National Archives were merged and formed Greenland National Museum and Archives.

All public institution in Greenland sends records to the museum together with the private donators. The archive is always available for enquiries to people concerning records on- or from Greenland.

7. The Museum has Online Archives on Church Lagers

The museum archive is required to post church lagers online. This is due to the archive bill. The recent church lagers to be posted by the National Archive are 80 years old. This is because in researching family history in Greenland by the family history researchers use the Church ledgers as their main source of information.

Greenland Church ledgers are similar to others. Nevertheless, a slight difference because they chart the history of missionary activities and colonialism.

The information included in this Church ledgers concerns religious ceremonies such as baptism, confirmation, marriages and funerals. Some older church lagers also include the original Greenlandic name of those baptized as adults.

Other church ledgers in Greenland also register the name of a person who has received communion and travelled to and from the parish. This makes the church ledgers very important in Greenland.

They contain key information about the history of its people. Furthermore, information on the life and death of individual citizens of Greenland.

8. It is the Largest Cultural History Museum in Greenland

The national museum is regarded as Greenland鈥檚 largest cultural history museum. It preserves Greenlandic history and different objects, art and images from all over the country.

A visit to this National Museum is a visit to all cultures in the country because they are all represented, from the earliest people to the modern Greenland society.

9. The Museum has an Old Garment Exhibition

Due to its preservation bill, the national museum archive has well-preserved garments which are from different settlements throughout time. Among these garments includes garbs muskox, and polar bear.

10. The National Museum and Archive is a Tourist attraction site

Due to its well-preserved collections from different cultures in the country, the Greenland National Museum and Archives is the best tourist attraction site in the country.

The online post on Church lagers gives people a chance to read them while still in any part of the country. The national museum makes the greatest museum in the country.