Roskilde
I just posted about a shawl in the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum, and it suddenly occurred to me that I never posted about the museum in the first place. In fact, I left you all hanging somewhere in Arhus. I am so sorry.
Let me say that I am a huge fan (in some ways) of the Vikings. For a goodly number of years they had an impact on a huge area of the world, and affected the history of many nations and people groups. They were in many ways fearless, energetic, incredibly clever-- and incredible warriors.
Some of their beliefs and behaviors I look at with modern eyes and turn pale. But setting that aside, overall I admire them. England owes much to the Danes who eventually occupied and ruled over a huge amount of England (though one might want to read Kipling's poem, "Danegeld")... they went through Russia (the Volga was a great trade connection to, eventually, Persia) to interact with the Russians and Arabs (how's that for PC speech, interact with? Yes, some trading and some, ahem. ) -- those Viking boats really got around. Some forget, too, that William the Conqueror was a Norman--Vikings who settled in the area of France now called Normandy. One of my favorite books as a girl was The Little Duke, about Richard (Sans Peur, or, the Fearless), William the Conqueror's great grand-daddy. Richard was a firm friend and ally of Harald Bluetooth, he was the grandson of Rollo the Walker (the Viking who forced the French to accept the presence of the Norsemen in France), and Richard's life makes fascinating reading. OK OK, so I am a romantic. (Not that life as a slave of the Vikings would have been romantic.)
Given all that, I would have to visit the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.
The original museum (it opened in 1969) was built to display five Viking ships found in Skuldelev. They had been scuttled, is the thinking, to serve as a barrier to invading ships, in the 11th century AD. (Roskilde was an important market town)
The ships were dug up, re-assembled as much as possible, and put on display. Since then the museum and its operation have greatly expanded their scope, and many other ships have been found in the area. (Not surprising)
Interestingly, they have opened a huge reproduction boatyard operation, building reproductions of myriads of ships and boats, and employing Viking tools and methods as much as possible. Truly very impressive.
That top picture is a reproduction of a warship, a Viking longboat, of the sort that might have sashayed over to Ireland. In fact, it went on a sea trial voyage just recently, to Norway, Dublin and back (possibly other places, the book is across the room and I am not getting up to check).
The photos of its trip are stunning. (Obviously the radar on the bow would not have been used by the Vikings)
The museum has a loom in the children's area, where they describe their experiments with wool sails.
I highly recommend visiting Roskilde if you have the opportunity... especially if you are into boats and the sea.
Let me say that I am a huge fan (in some ways) of the Vikings. For a goodly number of years they had an impact on a huge area of the world, and affected the history of many nations and people groups. They were in many ways fearless, energetic, incredibly clever-- and incredible warriors.
Some of their beliefs and behaviors I look at with modern eyes and turn pale. But setting that aside, overall I admire them. England owes much to the Danes who eventually occupied and ruled over a huge amount of England (though one might want to read Kipling's poem, "Danegeld")... they went through Russia (the Volga was a great trade connection to, eventually, Persia) to interact with the Russians and Arabs (how's that for PC speech, interact with? Yes, some trading and some, ahem. ) -- those Viking boats really got around. Some forget, too, that William the Conqueror was a Norman--Vikings who settled in the area of France now called Normandy. One of my favorite books as a girl was The Little Duke, about Richard (Sans Peur, or, the Fearless), William the Conqueror's great grand-daddy. Richard was a firm friend and ally of Harald Bluetooth, he was the grandson of Rollo the Walker (the Viking who forced the French to accept the presence of the Norsemen in France), and Richard's life makes fascinating reading. OK OK, so I am a romantic. (Not that life as a slave of the Vikings would have been romantic.)
Given all that, I would have to visit the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde.
The original museum (it opened in 1969) was built to display five Viking ships found in Skuldelev. They had been scuttled, is the thinking, to serve as a barrier to invading ships, in the 11th century AD. (Roskilde was an important market town)
The ships were dug up, re-assembled as much as possible, and put on display. Since then the museum and its operation have greatly expanded their scope, and many other ships have been found in the area. (Not surprising)
Interestingly, they have opened a huge reproduction boatyard operation, building reproductions of myriads of ships and boats, and employing Viking tools and methods as much as possible. Truly very impressive.
That top picture is a reproduction of a warship, a Viking longboat, of the sort that might have sashayed over to Ireland. In fact, it went on a sea trial voyage just recently, to Norway, Dublin and back (possibly other places, the book is across the room and I am not getting up to check).
The photos of its trip are stunning. (Obviously the radar on the bow would not have been used by the Vikings)
The museum has a loom in the children's area, where they describe their experiments with wool sails.
I highly recommend visiting Roskilde if you have the opportunity... especially if you are into boats and the sea. Oh, and they have a boat you can take a trip on, up the Fjord. I had forgotten to wear my rainjacket (knucklehead, I knew better than to believe that bright sunny sky) so I didn't risk it, but I did watch some people feebly trying to row their way out of the harbor in the boat... and it was totally amusing (they got nowhere)... so I think I am just as glad I had to give it a pass.
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