Vikingskipshuset

The Viking Ship Museum is the best place in the world to find out how the Vikings sailed around the world. This museum houses Viking ship discoveries from Gokstad, Oseburg, Tune and around the Oslo Fjord. Here one can see the world's two best preserved wooden Viking ships built in the 9th century. The ships were used as tombs for noble people and they were buried with everything they thought would be needed in the afterlife, including jewels, food, furniture and even servants. The ships are beautifully preserved, courtesy of the blue clay in which they were buried.

The Oseberg was found in 1903 and in its heyday required 30 oarsmen. It's magnificently decorated with dragon and serpent carvings and its burial chamber held the largest collection of Viking-age artifacts ever uncovered in Scandinavia. Experts have concluded that this ship was purely a pleasure vessel for sailing in peaceful waters because the wood used to build its mast was not as strong as in other ships. The impressive Gokstad was built around 890 AD and it's believed to have been a warship. Although not as elaborately decorated as the Oseberg, the Gokstad was sturdier and had several smaller boats measuring from 23ft to around 33ft in length. These were used for ferrying people ashore and for fishing. Only a few boards and fragments remain of the third ship, the Tune. The museum also displays the treasures excavated with each of the ships.

Visiting Oslo