#History

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Blue Ice Explorer: South Greenland - Short and Intensive

Experience Greenland on a getaway from Iceland. Wonderful day-hikes with easy access to South Greenland's blue icebergs and history.

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The Art Museum In The Day. Photo by Filip Gielda, Visit Greenland

Ilulissat Art Museum

Ilulissat Art Museum is housed in the former residence of the colony Manager, designed by the famous architect Helge B. Møller and erected in 1923.
Entrance view of Narsaq Museum located in South Greenland in Winter. Photo by Narsaq Museum

Narsaq Museum

Narsaq Museum is situated at the old harbour. Collections and exhibitions are fitted out in some of the town's oldest houses that date back to 1830.
Guests visiting Qasgiannguit Museum in Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl - Visit Greenland

Qasigiannguit Museum

Qasigiannguit Museum is a local cultural historical museum. The museum was officially opened in conjunction with the town's 250th anniversary in 1984.

About Greenland

History - A kayaker from Sisimiut in Greenland in a traditional skin kayak

History

The history of Greenland goes back to ca. 2500 BC, when the first Paleo-Eskimos migrated to Greenland through North America.

Qilakitsoq Mummies show life and death

The world-famous 500-year-old mummies from Qilakitsoq were found in a cave in 1972 by a couple of brothers who were out hunting for grouse.
Tjodhilde's church - a reconstruction of church from the norse presence in Greenland 1,000 years ago. By Mads Pihl

Tjodhildes Church

Tjodhilde was credited for Erik the Red’s conversion to Christianity and the building of the first church on the North American continent.
The axe of Leif Erikson - the statue overlooking Qassiarsuk in South Greenland, by Mads Pihl

Leif Eriksson

Leif Eriksson made ​​amazing discoveries and was the first European to reach North America. Nearly 500 years before Columbus.
A rune stone on a hill in Qassiarsuk in South Greenland. By Mads Pihl

Erik the Red

Read more about Erik the Red’s saga; how he got exiled; his travels as well as his discovery and establishment of the first settlements on Greenland.
Mother of the SeaMother of the Sea. By Mads Pihl

The Legend of the Mother of the Sea

The legend of Greenland's Mother of the Sea is a fantastic origin tale of Greenland's wildlife with a morale of altruism and responsibility.
Painter Kristian Lennert from Sismiut at work in his home in Greenland - by Mads Pihl

Visual Art

Before europeans came to Greenland, visual art was made by means of natural materials like bone, tooth, antlers, skin, soapstone etc.
Mother of the Sea frozen. By David Trood

Myths and Legends

Learn how Greenland’s myths and legends are imbued with the country’s natural landscape, darkness and the harshness of the hunter’s life.
Man sitting on a sled in North Greenland. By André Shoenherr

Migration to Greenland

Read about Greenland's immigration, a great and exciting part of nation's history and colorful culture which has been influenced for over 4.500 years.
House in Sisimiut. By Visit Greenland

Dwellings of the Inuit culture

Find out how the hunter's life in unit culture affected their houses, dwellings and architecture as can be experienced in Greenland.

Articles

A sunset snowball fight in Kulusuk in East Greenland. Photo by Mads Pihl

Via Kulusuk

Start your East Greenland adventure at Kulusuk airport, one of the world’s smallest international hubs.
A traditional Greenlandic drum for drum dancing on display in Narsaq in South Greenland. By Mads Pihl

Greenland’s Music History, Part 1

Learn more about Greenland's music scene and it's historical roots and influence, from traditional beats to an international setting.
Music - Christian and Frederik Elsner - the core of the Greenlandic band Nanook, performing in Frederik's living room in Nuuk

Greenland's Music History, Part 2

Learn more about how Greenland's music inspired it's modern cultural independence after the political situation from the Second World War.
Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen together with Bjarni Frímann and Miké Thomsen in the Post House. Photo by Jessie Brinkman Evans - Visit Greenland

Inside the 2018 Disko Arts Festival

We had flown down from Uummannaq two days prior, and had arrived in Ilulissat the previous morning. After a restful night’s stay at the Hotel Arctic, we took our bags and made our way down to the tourist dock, passed the hulls of old wooden boats in refit, and towards the young Greenlandic man standing by the gangway in a blue, quilted jumpsuit.

What really happened to Greenland's vikings?

One of Greenland’s greatest mysteries explained.
Traditional Dress - A drum dancer performing in Nuuk on National Day in Greenland

Drum and mask dance in Greenland

It’s hard not to smile, cry or laugh at this display of Greenlandic cultural inheritance, which was and still is a unique social gathering point and a plunge into Greenlandic myths and rituals.
The Family In Their National Clothing. Photo by Aningaaq R Carlsen - Visit Greenland

Symbols you'll see on Greenland's National Day

Today, on June 21st, we invite you to join us in celebrating Greenland’s National Day - wherever you are in the world.