Single view of News

Want to be a history detective?

Do you want to be a history detective? When you need to find out something about the past, you often look at the things that have been left behind by people in the past, because you can’t just find someone who lived 1,000 years ago and ask them about it yourself.

At the Viking Ship Museum, you can see five real Viking ships, which were used for warfare, fishing and trade by the Vikings. And just like the researchers who investigate things from the past, you too can learn a huge amount about Viking ships and sailing by looking at the ships in detail. By studying them closely, you can notice small, hidden traces that can reveal great secrets.

Buy the Discovery Set - in English or Danish - in the Museum Shop and start your journey around the Viking Ship Museum. When you’ve found the 10 posts and solved all the tasks, you can receive a prize for your successful voyage!

The Discovery Set costs 25 DKK

Guided tour for the whole family - in Danish

During the Viking Age, the first towns were established in Denmark. Here, exotic goods from far and wide were traded.

Join a family guided tour (in Danish), where you take part in a voyage with the nobleman ‘Ottar’ on his journey from northern Norway to the trading centre Hedeby in southern Denmark. What is he bringing with him in his large cargo ship?

All participants on the guided tour will be involved in the narrative and become part of the story of Viking voyages to foreign shores, as told by the Museum’s guides.

The Family Guided Tour starts at 11:00.

Colourful Vikings

Many people think that the Viking Age was dark and colourless. But that is far from the truth! Analyses of tiny traces of colour and paint from ships, shields and grave goods have now proven that the Vikings didn’t hold back from using strong colours.

Get in touch with your creative side at our paint workshop, where we work with Viking Age colours. Here, the colourful pigments are made into paint and you can paint beautiful Viking motifs with the home-made paints.

The paint workshop is open from 14:00 – 15:30.

Digital immersion

At the Viking Ship Museum, you can also hear exciting stories about Viking ships and their voyages in the Museum’s audio guide. The guide is designed for the whole family. The stories can be heard on three different levels, which are aimed at different age groups and how much time you have planned for your visit to the Museum.

You can hear the stories via the Museum app ‘Useeum’ on your own smartphones. The app is available for free download.

You can also try your hand at the digital game, MuseumMystery, where you have to help stop a sneaky thief by solving riddles and discovering which artefact he is planning to steal from the Museum.

Exhibitions for all

In the interactive exhibition, ‘Climb Aboard’, you can hop on board two Viking ships and experience a sea voyage over the open ocean. The ships are equipped for both raiding and trading. Look in the ships’ chests to see what the Vikings brought with them on their long voyages.

In the Museum’s basement, you can see two special exhibitions. ‘In the wake of the Vikings’ tells the story of how the five Skuldelev ships have formed the Viking Ship Museum. How this unique find has been of critical importance for maritime archaeology in Denmark and been the driving force behind wide-ranging archaeological experiments with reconstruction and sailing.

The exhibition, ‘In Smoke and Flames – the Battle of Fehmarn Belt, 1644’ tells the dramatic story of the fateful naval battle in 1644, where the Danish fleet suffered a painful defeat and three ships were sent to the bottom of the sea. The Viking Ship Museum’s maritime archaeologists have investigated the remains of the sunken ships, giving us a much better picture of what happened to the ships and their crews.

Café Knarr

Café Knarr serves food prepared after the principles in ‘New Nordic Viking Food’. We use ingredients that were known to the Vikings so there are no potatoes, tomatoes or cucumber but plenty of flatbread, angelica, sea buckthorn and pearl barley.

If you’re feeling hungry, enjoy a break in the cosy and warm surroundings at the café.

Winter Holiday Activities
12^th – 27^th February 2022

Activities are aimed at families with children between the ages of 6-14 and take place indoors at the Viking Ship Hall.

Open daily: 10.00 - 16.00

Voyage of discovery:
The Discovery Set costs 25 DKK and you get a prize when all the tasks are completed.

Guided tours in Danish and English:
Family guided tour in Danish: 11:00
Guided tour in English: 13:00

Paint workshop every day: 14:00 – 15:30

Admission:
Family ticket for 2 adults and all children under 18: 230 DKK
Adult: 125 DKK
Season pass:180 DKK
Children 0 – 17 years: always free entry

The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde:
Vindeboder 12, 4000 Roskilde, tlf.: + 45 46 300 200