Anna Jónsson

Anna Marie Mathilde Jónsson formerly Jörgensen. Was born on the 14th of April 1885. Her parents were Karl Jörgensen and Mathilde Jörgensen formerly Wenk. They were both originally from Fredericia in Jylland Denmark. Her father owned a machinist shop in Copenhagen and her mother was a housemaker. Anna was the oldest of twelve siblings, five brothers and seven sisters.

Anna started as an apprentice for a dressmaker at a young age. She would later on work as a dressmaker herself for a number of years. When she moved to Iceland with Einar in 1914 she rented a small apartment on Skólavörðustígur and took on various sewing work, embroidering and such. Idle hands were not something Anna knew. Often she would assist her husband with his work, keeping works in progress wet and preparing the wax.

Anna and Einar first met at a new years ball in 1901. It was held by the Icelandic student union  in Copenhagen. In the decorated halls of the Prince Wilhelm Palæ Einar asked Anna to dance. Later on he moulded The Dance in memory of their first meeting.

Anna was betrothed to Einar for 15 years, all the while he was trying to make sure he could provide for them a stable home. In 1917 when he had recieved the commision to make the statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni Einar finally thought he had secured his future and on midsummer night in 1917 they were married. The day after they sailed to America, where Einar worked on the statue of Thorfinn.

When they returned to Iceland from America in 1920 they moved into the museum building. The museum opened its doors to the public for the first time on midsummer day in 1923. There they lived untill Einar passed away in 1954. Anna took care of the museum as its director and lived in the house in the garden for a long while. She worked on numerous projects for the museum, for instance sorting and cataloging the library and preparing the penthouse apartment to be a part of the museum. Anna Jónsson died on the 2nd of October 1975.