Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Breiðfirðingabúð (1946–1969) – Lost Tables
Breiðfirðingabúð, or simply 'Búðin', opened in spring 1946 as the clubhouse of the Breiðfirðingafélag, the society of people from the Breiðafjörður region – then the largest regional society in Iceland with about 950 members – in a former furniture workshop behind Skólavörðustígur 6. It was rented o
Breiðfirðingabúð, or simply 'Búðin', opened in spring 1946 as the clubhouse of the Breiðfirðingafélag, the society of people from the Breiðafjörður region – then the largest regional society in Iceland with about 950 members – in a former furniture workshop behind Skólavörðustígur 6. It was rented out for dances from the start: from 1945 Björn R. Einarsson's band, the first all-Icelandic jazz band, played here and at Listamannaskálinn, and Svavar Gests, Tempó and Pónik followed, with old-time dances downstairs and the latest pop bands upstairs. From 1958 restaurateur Sigmar Pétursson ran the hall, adding traditional-costume balls, bingo and bridge nights, and live music carried on most nights of the week even after the society's activity waned in the sixties. The society sold the property in 1969 and dancing ended; from 1970 to 1982 the building housed Kristján S. Jósefsson's Icelandic animal museum, still under the Breiðfirðingabúð name. It was demolished in 1984, and around 1990 the society opened a new Breiðfirðingabúð in Faxafen.
Original building demolished 1984; the society opened a new Breiðfirðingabúð in Faxafen around 1990
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