Vikingeskibshallen

On our recent trip to the Arctic Circle, we saw some amazing things.  

After riding through North Eastern France and Belgium, we arrived in Germany.  We stopped for the day with friends and had the most wonderful lunch and then wandered around in the town of Bruggen.  A truely delightful day.

The next day we found ourselves in Denmark where we were to spend 3 days in total.  One of those days we had earmarked for visiting the Viking Museum in Roskilde.

It was fabulous!  They have five Viking boats on display which have been found in the grounds of the museum.  One of which you can see here.

There are also a lot of interactive exhibits in the grounds near the museum that encourage people to discover for themselves how the boats were built and many other things.

We minted our own Viking coins.  A unique experience, but a bit of fun, and we gained a nice souvenir each.  You could also paint your own shield and other activities.

One of the displays which had me fascinated was the armourer.  He was fashioning weapons and chainmail.  I could have watched it all day. 

There were a lot of reproductions of Viking equipment and accoutrements in the museum, which normally I do not like so much.  However, in this case it was very well done and "real" things made the replicas.  Real furs, wool, wood etc were used instead of faux fur, synthetics and laminated or particle woods.  


Housed alongside the museum was the marine archaeology unit.  Huge tanks of water held pieces recovered from underwater discoveries in the region, and there was an enormous tank filled with an acid solution holding a beautiful anchor.  I was very impressed at the interpretive displays and method of educating the public in this part of the museum.  An archaeologist was on duty to answer questions and talk visitors through what was happening with the pieces.  Too often important work like this is done behind closed doors and so a false impression is gained by people who view the restored artifacts in the museum proper.


In the grounds of the museum were planted trees and plants that the Vikings would have used in everyday life.  Everything was clearly labelled and you could easily see what each tree was used for and why.  Pretty and informative!  Of course I took many photos of the trees and plants and other "interesting to me" things.  Watch the letter box for examples on this years Christmas card.....