Vikings on world tour
The National Historical Museum in Stockholm is currently producing a major international travelling exhibition on Vikings – “We Call Them Vikings”. The exhibition is based on unique artifacts from the Historical Museum, of which many have never been shown outside Scandinavia.
Such a huge exhibition has not travelled around in the footsteps of the Vikings for many decades. The first stop is the Drents Museum in Holland, where “We Call Them Vikings” opens at the beginning of May next year. A tour of the whole of Europe is planned after that, as well as other parts of the world.
– The epoque of the Vikings is a mythical period of Scandinavian history, and the Vikings have become international celebrities, says Katty Hauptman Wahlgren, project leader for the exhibition.
The exhibition gives insights into their life at home, the rituals around death, the significance of handicrafts, the power of mythology and the symbolism of Viking ships. Seven different themes allow visitors to dive deep into the Viking world; a world which has changed after the archaeological discoveries of recent years. Previous stereotypes are now being questioned and Vikings have shown themselves to be more versatile and fascinating than we have understood so far.
“We Call Them Vikings” has been produced to go on tour in cultural historical museums internationally and is aimed at families, adults and school classes.
– The National Historical Museum has one of the world’s largest permanent Viking exhibitions, and possibly the world’s largest collection of objects from the Viking era. We notice every day how curious our foreign visitors are about Viking history, says the director of the National Historical Museum, Lars Amréus.
– It is very unusual that Swedish museums produce major, internationally touring exhibitions. For this reason it is very exciting that “We Call Them Vikings” is able to produce such a great interest from an international audience, at the same time as we are taking the opportunity to show how versatile and imaginative the Vikings were.
The exhibition is a joint production between the National Historical Museum and MuseumsPartner and studio-exhibit from Austria, which among other things have previously produced the internationally renowned exhibition on Ötzi, the ice man. In this partnership, the National Historical Museum provides expert knowledge, pedagogy and handling of exhibits, studio-exhibit provides the design and exhibition concept, while MuseumsPartner is responsible for logistics of the tour and sales.
The design of the exhibition is based on modern, stylized show cases in which selected original exhibits are shown together with illustrations, maps and multimedia, which inform visitors about the era. Interactive stations allow visitors to discover and research the time of the Vikings on their own conditions.
- Updated: 25 March 2011
- Responsible person: Webmaster
- Comments on the article
