The National Museum was established on 24 February 1863. Icelandic museum pieces up until that time had been kept in Danish collections. Jón Árnason librarian was made curator of the Icelandic collection. Several months later he war given permission to hire another curator; Sigurður Guðmundsson 'the painter,' who was the first to advocate the establishment of an antiquarian collection in Iceland.
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The role of the National Museum is varied, reflecting its legal obligation as national centre for the preservation and management of cultural heritage, cultural reaearch programmes and promulgation of knowledge and information which relates to the cultural heritage of the nation.