Unspecified/General

Bringing the age of the Norse seafarers vividly to life is the aim of the Viking Museum on the island of Djurgarden in Stockholm, an attraction that blends exhibition with immersive experience for a wide audience. Since opening in 2017 it has told the story of the Viking Age through artefacts, replicas, models and explanatory displays designed to give a fair and up-to-date picture of the period, setting aside popular fictions such as the horned helmet while showing how these people lived, farmed, traded, raided, explored and settled across a huge span of the world, from the rivers of the east to the coasts of North America. The exhibitions take in daily life, faith and ritual, shipbuilding and the famous voyages, grounded in present scholarship. The centrepiece is the ride Ragnfrid's Saga, on which visitors are carried in cars through a sequence of scenes recounting the turbulent fortunes of a Viking family over several generations, a piece of immersive theatre that families in particular enjoy. With its restaurant, shop and central position among the other attractions of Djurgarden, the Viking Museum offers an accessible and entertaining way into a period of lasting fascination, leaning toward engaging storytelling rather than academic detail. The museum was conceived to fill a gap, for although Stockholm possesses world-class collections of genuine Viking artefacts at the Swedish History Museum, no single attraction had been devoted to telling the Viking story in an engaging, narrative fashion for general visitors and families. It tackles the subject through a blend of conventional exhibition and immersive entertainment, drawing on replicas, reconstructions and storytelling alongside sound information to show how the Norse lived, worshipped, built their celebrated ships and ranged across the known world as traders, raiders and settlers. The centrepiece, the ride Ragnfrid's Saga, carries visitors on an eleven-minute journey in moving cars through a sequence of theatrical sets tracing the fortunes of a Viking family, complete with effects and narration offered in several languages, a format that renders the history accessible and memorable for the young. The displays are careful to dispel popular myths, making plain, for example, that the Vikings wore no horned helmets. Equipped with a restaurant and shop and conveniently set among the museums of Djurgarden, reached without trouble by tram or ferry, the Viking Museum provides a lively, family-friendly route into one of the most enduringly popular subjects in history, balancing entertainment with a respect for the evidence.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: 48 Djurgardsvagen, Stockholm, Sweden

Website: https://thevikingmuseum.com

Opening Date: 29/04/2017