Today I took the train to Roskilde to see the Viking Ship Museum.

Roskilde is the former center of the Danish empire, and was a Viking settlement before that. In the late 11th century, the Vikings scuttled five ships in the Roskilde fjord to form a barrier against attack. The ships were discovered in the late 1950s and brought up for restoration in 1962. To prevent the wood from disintegrating, they soaked it in a solution of polyethylene glycol over a period of years until it could be safely dried out. The result is two warships, two trading ships, and one fishing boat built almost a thousand years ago.

Viking ships

The adjacent boatyard builds full-sized reproductions of Viking ships using historic tools and methods. They also sail them to reconstruct routes the Vikings would have taken and determine how the ships would have functioned in various conditions. My booklet does not mention anything about oar dances, but presumably they do that when no one was looking. The temptation would just be too great.

Viking shipyard

In the summer, you can take boat trips around Roskilde harbor, rowing and handling the sails yourself (I assume with supervision). They don’t offer this after September 30, though. The water is too cold. (“If you fell in, we wouldn’t have enough time to get you out.”)

Viking selfie