Landlyst was built between 1847-1850 by the carpenter Matthías Markússon and his wife Solveig Pálsdóttir, and is the second oldest house in Vestmannaeyjar, only the Landakirkja church is older. The house stood at Strandvegur 43b until 1992, when it was disassembled, protected and then reassembled in almost original shape at Skansinn in the year 2000.
The neonatal tetanus disease (tetanus neonatorum) was commonplace in Iceland but quite severe in Vestmannaeyjar since the 17th century. In the year 1842 it was estimated that every three out of four children born alive, died from the disease. It was believed that thedisease, which was characterized by cramps, was caused by water deficiency, fish or bird consumption or even Fulmar feathers.
Solveig Pálsdóttir (1820-1886), a priest daughter from Kirkjubær in Vestmannaeyjar sailed to Copenhagen in 1842 to study to becomea midwife and to take care for infants. Solveig was the first educated midwife residing in Vestmannaeyjar and one of the very first Icelanders to receive a midwife education abroad.
The arrival of the Danish doctor of medicine Peter A. Schleisner (1818-1900) in 1847 was pivotal for the fight against the neonatal tetanus disease. In collaboration with Solveig he established a special birth-infirmary "Stiftelsið", which was built at the west end of Landlyst and paid for by a grant from the Danish state. It was commonplace to dry laundry on stonewalls which were exposed to soil containing the bacteria responsible. Schleisner started applying special oil (balsamum copaiba) on the umbilical cord, used by Amazonian Indians for healing wounds. Of 20 children borne the year after, only one died from neonatal tetanus. Schleisner's umbilical oil was used until the end of 19th century and the neonatal tetanu was virtually eradicated.
The Vestmannaeyjar library (Vestmannaeyjar Reading Society) was established in 1862 and was housed in Landlyst for nine years but Marshall Bjarni Einar Magnússon, one of the library founders, lived there at the time. Þorsteinn Jónsson, the County's Doctor of Medicine lived in Landlyst 1869-1902 and operated there both an infirmary and a pharmacy.
Landlyst was used for residence until 1972 when the municipality of Vestmannaeyjar purchased the house. For a period it housed an art school and a gallery. Museum of health has resided in Landlyst since 2000.
Source: Local signage