Photo by Screenshot: Bus Hostel hamburger webcam

The last cheeseburger sold in Iceland in 2009 remains unchanged after 6 years, reports MBL.is. The only notable difference seems to be that the meat patty is a slightly lighter colour than before.

A year after the economic meltdown in Iceland, McDonald’s announced it would be closing up shop and on the last day it was open Icelander Hjör­tur Smára­son bought the last Mc­Don­ald’s cheeseburger in the coun­try.

Deciding he would preserve it, Hjörtur kept the burger and fries in a plas­tic bag for 3 years dur­ing which time it remained un­touched by time or decay.

“I had heard some­thing about Mc­Don­ald’s never de­cay­ing so I just wanted to find out for my­self whether this was true or not,” ex­plains Hjörtur who initially donated the ham­burger to the Na­tional Mu­seum of Ice­land after realising nothing had happened to the burger in the first 3 years it was in his possession.

Recently the mu­seum returned the burger after a Danish specialist informed them that they could no longer pre­serve it.

“I think he was wrong be­cause this ham­burger pre­serves it­self,” said Hjörtur. Ac­cord­ing to hostel staff, some of the fries have been eaten by guests while it’s been on display there.

The staff at the Na­tional Mu­seum considered throwing the burger out but Hjörtur, who considers the item to be of great historical value, has secured its place at the Reykjavík Bus Hostel in Skó­garhlíð where it remains on display and seemingly uncorrupted by nature on the Hostel Bar.

You can watch the burger rot in real time via the Bust Hostels Burger Live Feed.

Our cover from when Mickey D’s left Iceland back in the day. It’s as old as this burger. Maybe slightly younger.

Correction

In a previous version of this article we stipulated that museum guests had eaten some of the fries while on exhibition. But in fact the fries were pilfered by hostel guests where the burger and fries are on display right now. This has now been corrected in the text.