Foundation grants 2 million kroner. Sea Stallion as platform for learning.

The Viking Ship Museum has gained massive economic recognition. Due to a fat check from the Carsten Brebøl foundation the World’s largest reconstruction of a Viking ship – the Sea Stallion from Glendalough – is well on its way to Dublin.

By Henrik Kastoft

No more than a fortnight ago the Viking Ship Museum hand picked the crew to man the Sea Stallion on the long crossing from Roskilde to Dublin during the summer of 2007.

And now museum and crew can both get a real glimpse of the adventure on the horizon.

The board of the Carsten Brebøl-foundation has decided to support the historic voyage with a donation of nothing less than 2 million kroner.

“One of the primary purposes of the foundation is to preserve Danish cultural heritage. And that purpose, one honestly has to say, is fully met by the Sea Stallion and the Viking Ship Museum,” representative of the Carsten Brebøl-foundation Bent Lindgaard says.

Shipping magnate with a twinkle in his eye

Along with the rest of the board Bent Lindgaard manages the legacy of shipping magnate Carsten Brebøl, who died in 1997.

“Carsten Brebøl was an eccentric hedonist, who held spectacular parties very dear. He always had a twinkle in his eye and a fire in his heart for all things nautical and the history of Denmark. Carsten Brebøl would have loved the Sea Stallion as a project,” Bent Lindgaard says.

At the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde the joy and the gratitude are great. The director of the Viking Ship Museum, Tinna Damgård-Sørensen says: “2 million kroner from the Carsten Brebøl foundation is an incredibly fine gift.” 

“The gift shows us that some one out there is willing to back us up, enabling us to see this historic journey through, the way no one has done it since the Viking Age.

“Additionally the gift is concrete proof that we did right in focusing our energy on public relations in connection with the summer trip to Norway. Our project caught the attention of the people behind the Carsten Brebøl-foundation because of all the media publicity generated by the test voyage,” Tinna Damgård-Sørensen says.

Laughing with the Lord

“Normally the Carsten Brebøl-foundation does not support general expenses, but in the case of the Sea Stallion the board has made an exception,” Bent Lindgaard says.

“The project is so good and the voyage to Dublin fits hand in glove with the paragraphs of purpose of the foundation that we have chosen to fund the Sea Stallion anyway. The money is not earmarked, leaving it up to the museum to spend the gift on provisions, insurance of the ship and crew or whatever it turns out to be.
“Regardless, I am sure that right now Carsten Brebøl is sitting up there by the Lord, amused to be a part of this fantastic project,” Bent Lindgaard concludes. He and others from the foundation board are travelling to Dublin themselves in August 2007 to be able to welcome the Sea Stallion, when it reaches shore after seven weeks of sailing.