Historic Icelandic bridal costume survived a ship fire
Saturday 5th September 2026 on 13:30 in
Iceland
An 18th-century Icelandic bridal costume once believed lost in a shipwreck survived a fire aboard the vessel and is now on display at the National Museum of Iceland, mbl.is reports.
The costume is being presented as part of the museum’s annual Icelandic National Costume Festival and the exhibition With History in Its Luggage: The Bridal Costume, which opened in May.
The costume belonged to the Stephensen family, one of Iceland’s wealthiest families at the time. It was long thought to have been lost in a maritime disaster off the coast of Iceland in 1809.
According to museum marketing director Ragnheiður Skúladóttir, the costume was later carried to England by botanist William Jackson Hooker, who had travelled to Iceland to study its flora. It is not known whether Hooker bought it or received it as a gift.
Hooker was among the guests at a major feast in Viðey on June 27, 1809, hosted by former governor Ólafur Stephensen. The feast took place the day after Jörundur hundadagakonungur seized power in Iceland.
A mutiny broke out aboard the ship carrying the costume, and the vessel was set on fire. Jörundur was on the ship that arrived to rescue the crew after the fire started. According to the story, the ship’s steward clung to the chest containing the costume, allowing it to survive.
Historian and dressmaking expert Guðrún Hildur Rosenkjær said the costume was particularly important because it was the only complete 18th-century Icelandic costume known to exist.
She believes the bodice was made for Þórunn’s wedding in 1780, based on an examination of her dowry. The skirt was made by Guðrún Skúladóttir, the daughter of Skúli fógeti, who was known as a skilled craftswoman and spent the final years of her life in Viðey.
The skirt was not made around 1780 and was therefore not part of Þórunn’s original costume. It was probably made for Ragnheiður, Guðrún Skúladóttir’s sister, who married in 1804 at the age of 30. Guðrún was so renowned that she was called the mother of flowers.