The museum was opened in 1949 and its first permanent building was built in 1954-55.  It was enlarged in 1989-1994 and now has an area of 600 m².  The museum has been the responsibility of one man, Thordur Tomasson (28/4 1921).  He started the collection of the artefacts and houses of the open-air museum and has not stopped yet.

After having enjoyed the well-organized Folk Museum, the visitors usually visit the sod farm to see how people used to live in the past.  In the slopes behind it are more “modern” dwellings, which were disassembled elsewhere in the district and rebuilt at Skogar.  The pride of the museum is the church, which was consecrated in 1998.  It depicts the most common church architecture of the past and all its possessions belonged to older churches, which have disappeared.   It is safe to assert, that a tour of Iceland is incomplete without visiting this museum.