The ship was returned to Iceland and placed on exhibit in the open air until being transferred to the new museum in autumn 2008.

[6] She is suspended one and a half metres in the air so that visitors can walk underneath her hull and see the workmanship.

[7] There are also stairs and a walkway into the ship, enabling visitors to climb aboard and sit or walk around.

The museum also houses the exhibition Vikings—The North Atlantic Saga from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.[2][3][6] On 1 December 2010, a 2-year temporary exhibition with materials on loan from the National Museum of Iceland opened with a heathen reburial ceremony for a body excavated at Hafurbjarnarstaðir in 1868.

[9] The museum at that time had four employees, two full-time; the new management hoped to expand it to attract travelling exhibitions and possibly to add a café.