ON THE VIKING TRAIL (PART 2 of 2) - SCANDINAVIAN MUSEUMS Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in June and July 2025. 

Roskilde (R), Denmark (D). Stockholm (St), Sweden (S). Oslo (O), Norway (N).

This second and last post on Viking history is about visiting three relevant museums, in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Part 1 appeared last week.

THE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM IN DENMARK

Less than an hour drive or ride in public transportation from Copenhagen, what is left of five ships, after a thousand years under seawater, is expertly displayed at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. The website tells the impressive story of the excavation, and provides details about each original ship and its present-day replica.

Ship.

Archeologists believe that local Vikings intentionally sunk decrepit ships in a fjord channel to form a barrier, to protect their town, Roskilde, from enemy attacks. Piles of debris embedded in the sea floor contained the remains of a fishing boat, a small coastal trader (above photo) that could carry up to four tons of cargo, a large ocean-going cargo ship, and two speedy longships to carry warriors into battle, up to 70 armed men in the larger vessel.

Scientists determined not only what kind of wood the ships were made of (pine, oak…), but where they were made (the location in Norway or Ireland…), where else the big cargo ship stopped for repairs, and that two of the ships were sunk 20 years after the first three. In the museum, the original wooden planks are mounted on the appropriate boat skeletons, made of metal strips.

Model of above ship.

Tabletop models show what the ship once looked like.

We didn’t ride, row, or sail in the replicas floating in the harbor, or watch boatbuilders, sailmakers, ropemakers, or the blacksmith at work. But seeing the museum ships on a tour guided by a costumed archeologist gave us insights into Viking society.

The different specialized ships hint at the fact that not all Vikings were warriors. Most Vikings were farmers. Some were traders, others fearless explorers. They relied on genius shipbuilders and specialized craftspersons. Warriors were a minority and they went on raids only part of the year.  But even farmers used boats to move cows between pastures, and to bring goods to and from markets, because it was easier to travel over water, including by sled when it was frozen solid, than land.

Over time, better ships carried more load, faster and farther: warriors, for swifter, deadlier raids and conquests. Explorers searching for new lands and resources. Traders seeking greater wealth and larger networks. From their Nordic homelands, Vikings spread east, west, and south. It is easy to imagine Vikings enamored with their ships, often referred to as “sea-steeds” or “wave-horses” in Norse poems.

THE VIKING WORLD IN SWEDEN

In Stockholm, the Swedish History Museum’s Viking World is the world’s largest Viking exhibition. The website offers online exploration of this exhibition, with hi-res photos better than the one below, articles, old Norse myths, and stories of Viking age people, including children. The best webpage for a virtual visit has buttons by theme, such as “Family and hierarchy,” leading to sub-themes, leading to more info and hi-res photos of many objects.

On site, in the courtyard, a staff blacksmith had visiting children pumping the bellows. Some visitors shot arrows, others played a Viking board game. Staff bakers made flatbread on a griddle for us to taste with butter, honey, and cumin or fennel seeds. The Vikings made rye or spelt flatbread, but only on special occasions or perhaps as grave gifts. Their daily meals included porridge, meat, fish, and vegetables.

Inside, we followed a stellar tour guide, an archeologist, before wandering independently through the exhibition for hours.

Keys.

I love Viking keys. They unlocked chests or cupboards containing valuables, and hung like pendants on necklaces around the neck of the woman who was the head of the household. They symbolized her authority and power. She ran and controlled the place. Today, replicas are widely available and hugely popular in Scandinavian museum shops.

THE VIKING AGE EXHIBITION IN NORWAY

The Oslo Norwegian Historical Museum’s Viking Age Exhibition webpage links to a 17-minute video Guided Tour with Closed Caption available in English. Displayed in 19 glass cases were some of the finest Viking objects found in Norway. This exhibition was smaller than the Viking World in Stockholm, Sweden, yet just as interesting.

Treasure.

Above, Norway’s largest Viking gold treasure, the Hon Hoard. It was found in 1834 by a farmer digging a ditch. Dating from the 800s, it includes more than 2.5 kilograms (over 2.5 lbs) of gold. With gold necklaces, Frankish jewelry, Arabian coins, North African beads, a Roman gemstone, and an English ring, “The hoard is a reflection of Viking journeys and contacts.” At its greatest, the world of the Vikings stretched from today’s Iran to today’s Canada, and from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean and North Africa.

The photo at the top of this post shows the best preserved Viking helmet ever found anywhere, the Gjermundbu Helmet. It was found on a farm, in the grave of an elite equestrian warrior surrounded by numerous weapons and abundant gear. Note the absence of horns on the helmet. Horns on Viking helmets exist only in popular culture.

 This temporary exhibition ends in December 2026. The objects will move permanently to the new Museum of the Viking Age when it opens in 2027.

Across the different places we visited, our expert guides agreed that Víkingr, the Old Norse word for Viking, was what people called themselves—but not all Norse people--only seafaring warriors and travelers. ”Vik” meant “bay” and a Viking went about his business in a bay, sailing or crewing a boat. “Viking” was an occupation, like “farmer” or “archeologist.” Now, the word Viking refers to anyone of Norse origin who lived during the Viking Age (~750-1050).

 

 

ON THE VIKING TRAIL (PART 1 of 2) - SCANDINAVIAN SITES Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

Model of Birka, Sweden, town and ramparts.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in June and July 2025.

Lofotr (L), Norway (N). Birka (B), Stockholm (St), Sweden (S), Denmark (D).

My husband and I visited Scandinavia in 2025. Targeting natural wonders and the Viking Age of over a thousand years ago led us to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. We spent a month seeing and doing what we wanted most, to make the most out of our roundtrip flights overseas, because I try to minimize non-essential flying and its eco-damage.

I wrote earlier posts about the natural wonders we saw. About the Vikings, this post, Part 1, is about visiting two former Viking sites, Lofotr in Norway and Birka in Sweden. Part 2 will appear next week.

In Scandinavia, like in any land where earlier cultures once thrived, layers of dirt are layers of history. Modern farmers working in their fields have literally struck gold—in buried Viking treasures. In museums that display such artifacts, every single staff guide we met was a young, passionate archeologist.

LOFOTR, NORWAY

As described in an earlier blog post about Norway’s far north Lofoten Islands, the Lofotr Viking Museum is the archeological site where the longest Viking longhouse ever found once stood. A replica of it, a museum, and the historic harbor site form the Lofotr Viking Museum.  

Our costumed guide for a tour of the longhouse said that such a big farmstead would have been the seat of power of a mighty chieftain. His name might have been Ulv, also referred to as Olaf in different texts. Ulv and Olaf do sound similar to me, especially if I imagine speaking with my mouth full of hearty Viking porridge.

More importantly, I learned that he might have been the same man as in the Icelandic saga that begins with, “There was a man named Ulv…” No way! I had just read this saga, Egil’s Saga, in which Ulv was Egil’s grandfather. Was I standing where he once did, where the story started? Something shifted in the reality around me. Ulv, and therefore his son, and grandson Egil, were part Sami, the local native people. Ulv’s son left Norway for Iceland, where Egil was born.

Longhouse, diagram and model.

The above diagram of the enormous 83-meter (~270-feet) longhouse stone foundation and post holes shows five main rooms: from left to right, the living area, entrance room with the front door at the bottom and the back door at the top, banquet hall, storage room, and livestock barn. In the above model, the doors and cows give an idea of the scale.

The barn space in the longhouse replica.

In the above photo of the barn portion of the replica, the emergency exit door, added to meet modern safety requirements, helps to picture how imposingly tall the longhouse was. In the banquet room, costumed staff cooked stew on the central hearth fire and served it with mead to wash it down. In the living area, craftspersons made period shoes and wove cloth.

The inside of a longhouse might have smelled like food, such as simmering herbs and meat, and hearth fire smoke mixed with the body odor of numerous people and the scents emanating from horses, cows, and sheep.

Chieftain and wife.

In the museum building, mannequins were dressed like the chieftain and his wife might have been. Also on display were artifacts found in the excavation of the former longhouse foundation, its refuse heap outside the back wall, and nearby graves and other sites: for example, tools and weapons, glass and pottery shards, and jewelry, locally made or imported. Powerful, wealthy Vikings were buried with their possessions.

When done indoors, we started walking downhill toward the harbor to see Viking ship replicas and get a feel for the former farm. But we gave up because even though the hours-long lashing rain has stopped, the wind was so cold it felt like it was slicing my eyeballs, and so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet. Would a Viking woman have toughed it out?

BIRKA, SWEDEN

From a boat dock in Stockholm, a 2-hour boat ride into vast Lake Mälaren took us to Birka, the site of Sweden’s “first city” or town. Founded on a small island during the 750s, within 100 years it had become the most important Swedish Viking trading post for northern Europe and a base for raids to the east.

During our boat ride, a costumed archeologist told Viking history tales as we sailed past their setting.

With only three and a half hours on the island before boarding the boat back, we decided to catch the earliest guided, outdoor walking tour.

Reconstructed villagers' boat.

This gave us time before the tour to stroll through the reconstructed Viking village that existed at the same time as the town of Birka, chat with resident goats and chickens, and watch docents lead kids craft activities.  

On the hour-long guided tour in steady, light rain, we walked through some of the 1,600+ Viking Age burial mounds, past an ancient fortress and adjacent garrison site, and in sight of Black Earth, the black soil from the former town fireplaces.

Over 1,000 people lived in Birka, many of them craftspersons and traders, either freemen or slaves. The craftsmen—bronze casters, weavers, comb and shoe makers…—lived with their family in houses near the docks. Many were immigrants from other parts of Europe, based on the materials and designs they used. The traders got rich, importing Arabic silver, beads from India, Yemen, Byzantium, and the Caucasus, ceramics, silk, spices, glass… in exchange for iron, horns, fur, skins, cloth, birds of prey, and slaves.

Comb.

The above comb is intact, which is rare. It was made from different antlers.

Smoothing stone and board.

To “iron” their clothes, the Vikings rubbed the above green glass “smoothing stone” over fabric laid on the whalebone “smoothing board.” The resulting heat would make the fabric shiny and smooth. The above stone, board, and comb, found at Birka, are now displayed in the Viking World exhibition in Stockholm.

 In the Birka museum rooms, we saw portraits in images and words of two men and two women who were buried at Birka in the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th century, some artifacts found during grave or Black Earth excavations, and some replicas.

Birka was part of a northern European trade network. Traveling was easier on water than land, so people, goods, and ideas came together in harbors. Many different languages would have been spoken on the docks. Different cultures and religions were represented in Birka, a cosmopolitan Viking town.

Note: Part 2  of On the Viking Trail will post next week.

 

 

CHRISTMAS CRECHES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

 52 Places to Go: Week 50

Gourd Creche from Chile

Over the years my family has collected a variety of Christmas creches from all over the world.  Some of been souvenirs of our travel, others have been gifts, and some we have purchased at museum gift shops.  We get them out each holiday season and are reminded of all the different cultures that celebrate Christmas.  Here are a few of our favorites.

Knitted Creche from Chile

West African Nativity Figures

Haitian Nativity

Corn Husk Nativity from Mexico

Tin Nativity from Mexico

Ceramic Nativity from Mexico

Swedish cast iron Nativity candle holder

Russian Nesting Doll Nativity

Christmas Creches from Around the World

Gourd Creche from Chile

Over the years my family has collected a variety of Christmas creches from all over the world.  Some of been souvenirs of our travel, others have been gifts, and some we have purchased at museum gift shops.  We get them out each holiday season and are reminded of all the different cultures that celebrate Christmas.  I'd like to share a few of them and send you best wishes for a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

Knitted Creche from Chile

West African Nativity Figures

Haitian Nativity

Corn Husk Nativity from Mexico

Tin Nativity from Mexico

Ceramic Nativity from Mexico

Swedish cast iron Nativity

Russian Nesting Doll Nativity

Uppsala, Sweden

Uppsala Castle, built in 1549:  The Governor's Residence and Site of Several Museums

Last month, my husband Art spent a week in Uppsala, Sweden.  He was there for work, but he also did a little sightseeing and has agreed to share a few of his photos here.  Although I did not accompany him on this trip, I did go with him on a trip to Sweden several years ago.  I remember that as we drove from the airport to Stockholm past pine forests and rolling farmland, it was highly reminiscent of my home state of Minnesota.  Perhaps that’s why so many Scandinavians emigrated to the American upper Midwest! Art’s photos from this trip focus on the historic center of Uppsala, a university town of 140,000 people about an hour north of Stockholm.

A University Town

The Carolina Rediviva University Library

 Uppsala University, founded in 1477, is the oldest university in Scandinavia and one of the most distinguished universities in northern Europe.  During Art’s visit, he was taken on a tour of the Museum Gustavianum and of the old books and map collection at the university’s Carolina Rediviva Library.  From early anatomical textbooks, to globes of the world made before much of the world had been explored, his photos show a room packed with historic books and documents.  My favorite picture is of a globe of the constellations showing a realistic drawing of a bear around what we usually call the Big and Little Dippers.  I’ve always thought it took a great deal of imagination to see those constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) as bears!

Globe of the Constellations, Carolina Rediviva Library

The Uppsala Cathedral

Uppsala Cathedral.  Seat of the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden

Since 1164, Uppsala has been the ecclesiastical center of Sweden.  Its most prominent building is the Cathedral, whose twin towers, nearly four hundred feet high, dominate the skyline.  The Cathedral, with its soaring nave and stained glass windows, is Gothic in design. When it was inaugurated in 1435 it was part of the Roman Catholic Church.  Since the Reformation, it has been part of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.  In addition to its architectural interest, the Cathedral is the burial site of many of Sweden’s kings and luminaries, including botanist Carl Linnaeus. 

Uppsala Cathedral Stained Glass Window with Angels Above

Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Father of ModernTaxonomy
As I looked at Art’s photos of Uppsala, I tried to imagine that it might have been somewhat similar when Linnaeus was alive and students flocked to his lectures at the university. Carl Linnaeus (also known as Carl von Linne) was a scientist, lecturer, writer, and passionate collector and explorer.  In his time, there was no comprehensive system for identifying and classifying plants and animals. Linnaeus' study of plants and the need to name them in an organized way motivated him to develop a two part system for naming all living things, the first part being the genus name and the second the species, as in Homo sapiens, Felis domesticus, or Tyrannosaurus rex.  The universal language of science in Linnaeus’ time was Latin.  Today, English is the universal scientific language, but we still use Latin and Linnaeus' system for scientific names.  

Stora Torget, the main square in Uppsala, for pedestrians only

Flatbread 
While in Uppsala, Art became enamored of the many varieties of flatbread that were served on the breakfast smorgasbord at his hotel.  Made from rye, wheat, whole grain, and in various degrees of thickness, this crisp bread is perfect with butter, cheese, meat or by itself as a healthy snack. Of course, you don’t have to fly to Sweden to buy or eat Swedish food.  Just go to your nearest IKEA! [For an interesting article on the history and culture of IKEA, go to the October 3, 2011 issue of the New Yorker.]

Thanks to Art for sharing his photos!

Dome of Museum Gustavianum of Uppsala University