The construction of the new Museum of the Viking Age is well under way, and today the Minister of Research and Higher Education Sandra Borch visited the construction site at Bygdøy.
The Museum of the Viking Age is built on behalf of the Ministry of Education, and the purpose of the visit was to give the Minister insight into the history and vision behind the new museum, as well as the work to secure the collections.
Borch was welcomed by Svein Stølen, rector of the University of Oslo, Håkon Glørstad, museum director, and Ellen Horn, chairman of the board of the Museum of Cultural History.
– We appreciate that the Minister prioritizes to visit this project. This is an important project, both for the University of Oslo and the Museum of Cultural History, but the project is also of great importance due to the Viking Ship graves being Norway’s furthermost cultural heritage from the past, Glørstad said.
Extensive work
In addition to a briefing on the building project and the monumental Viking Age collection which is managed by the museum, the Minister was able to see the Viking ships in the former Viking Ship Museum.
The ships are too fragile to be moved, and are therefore safely secured in huge steel riggs that protect them from impacts of the construction work happening outside. Borch was introduced to the innovative and demanding work which is being done to protect the ships and sleighs during construction and relocation.
The new Museum of the Viking Age will be three times as large as the former Viking Ship Museum and will be built as an extension to the old museum. It is challenging to keep this cultural heritage safe, and the new museum building is essential to ensure that the Viking ships are preserved for future generations.
In addition to the world's best-preserved Viking ships, the new museum will exhibit more than 5,000 other objects from the Viking Age.
