Skip to main content

A museum unlike any other.

The South Georgia Museum exists to protect, document and promote the cultural and natural history and heritage of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Our mission is to educate, inspire, and engage visitors with the unique stories of this remarkable landscape. From the vibrant ecosystems to the rich history of human exploration, we aim to illuminate the connections between nature, culture, and the challenges facing our planet.

News & Blogs

Read the latest stories from South Georgia Museum

View all
We saw a lot of dandelions on South Georgia, are they bad?
We saw a lot of dandelions on South Georgia, are they bad?

South Georgia has a unique and fragile ecosystem. Through human intervention, the island has been impacted by the introduction of non-native species, including dandelions. Dandelions, likely introduced unintentionally through Norwegian soil placed on whalers’ graves, have become a common sight on South Georgia. They are

Sledging, Snow-clearing and Shivering: October Blog
Sledging, Snow-clearing and Shivering: October Blog

This October the museum team has been busy getting the museum ready for the busy season ahead. We arrived in late September and greeted their first ship the next day! It’s been an incredibly snowy spring in Grytviken. The first weeks of October, the track

Did the whalers have a supermarket?
Did the whalers have a supermarket?

The whalers probably wished they had a supermarket! The sealers and whalers brought a variety of domestic animals such as reindeer and sheep to South Georgia, mainly for food. Only reindeer were successful in surviving without the whalers’ help . Of the three herds that

Why did whaling in South Georgia stop?
Why did whaling in South Georgia stop?

South Georgia was once a hub for the global whaling industry. For over six decades, the waters surrounding the island were the scene of intense whaling with 175,250 whales killed and processed. The first whaling station on South Georgia was established in 1904 by Norwegian

Why aren’t there any lighthouses on South Georgia?
Why aren’t there any lighthouses on South Georgia?

During the whaling era, in the early 1900s, the first government Magistrate took the advice from the whaling companies and made several recommendations to install various lights, beacons and a bell buoy to aid navigation around South Georgia. All of these were installed and maintained

The Whalers’ Library Project
The Whalers’ Library Project

This season we started a project to catalogue the books in the library in the whalers’ church at Grytviken. The room holds thousands of books, so the cataloguing process will take some time. We have only catalogued about a tenth of the books this season,

March 2024 Museum Blog – ‘Another record year for the South Georgia Museum!’
March 2024 Museum Blog – ‘Another record year for the South Georgia Museum!’

It seems like no time at all that we were all staring down at King Edward Point from the deck of the Fisheries Patrol Vessel Pharos SG – eagerly anticipating the coming season and all the adventures it would contain. Now, there is a distinct

February 2024 South Georgia Museum Blog – Do you get bored in South Georgia?
February 2024 South Georgia Museum Blog – Do you get bored in South Georgia?

  The February SG Museum blog was written by Helen Balfour – Curatorial Intern One of our most asked questions at the South Georgia Museum is if we get bored while we’re here. You might assume when you’re living so far away from ‘civilisation’ that

Meet Our Team

The Museum is located in Grytviken, a former whaling station on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. The collections are owned by the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI), a British Overseas Territory in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.The museum is managed and operated by the charity South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) which is based in Dundee, Scotland.

Read more

Meet Our Partners

We work with a number of international partners who share our interest in South Georgia, and the history and heritage of the wider South Atlantic and Antarctic region.

Read more

Running a museum at the end of the world

Discover the unique challenges of operating what is one of the most remote museums on the planet.

Find out more

Support the South Georgia Museum

Help us preserve South Georgia’s rich history and heritage. Join us in protecting our past for future generations — donate today

Find out more