More than 400 buildings lie buried under lava from the 1973 eruption, and on the edge of the flow ‘Pompeii of the North’ is a museum revolving around one house excavated from 50m of pumice. It was once home to Gerður Sigurðardóttir and Guðni Ólafsson, their two children and baby. During the eruption the family was forced to leave in the middle of the night with only time to grab one item, a baby bottle.
The modern volcanic-stone building allows a glimpse into the home with its crumbling walls and intact but toppled knick-knacks and is filled with multimedia exhibits on the eruption and its aftermath, from compelling footage and eyewitness accounts to the story of the home owners. An audio guide leads you through it all; upstairs there's a catwalk over the wreckage, a space dedicated to all things Surtsey, and a cafe with broad views across town.