The National Museum of Denmark

Denmark’s largest cultural history museum, the National Museum of Denmark offers visitors a veritable treasure trove of renowned and unique finds. Here you can immerse yourself in the Viking Age’s people and their fascinating lives. If you give yourself enough time to go through several of the exhibitions, you get the entire history of Denmark, of which the Vikings are a crucial part – the odyssey from the Stone Age to the present day. The museum’s historical roots go back to the Royal Chamber of Art (Kunstkammer), whose large collection of rarities such as paintings, ethnographic objects, weapons and antiquities was founded by Frederik the Third around 1650. Today, the National Museum’s collections continue to grow, partly because of the many objects handed over as designated national treasure. Every year the National Museum exhibits a sample of the many objects found by amateur archaeologists around the country. 2017 saw, amongst other things, the display of the largest Viking Age gold treasure trove, which was found by three metal detector enthusiasts in a field in Jutland.

Prehistoric Denmark exhibition.  It was in all haste, it seems, that the heavy sack was dumped into the hole and covered over with the freshly dug soil and then a scattering of leaves and twigs. It would be safe here …  But the silver hoard was never reclaimed by the person who one day in the mid-900s dug a hole in the ground to hide his fortune. A very rich man, or perhaps a silversmith, who was unable to return. This is probably the way the Duesminde Hoard ended up in the ground. In 2002, an amateur archaeologist’s metal detector issued a high pitched alarm at this very spot and the 50 assorted pieces of silver, such as belt buckles and fittings were dug up. Today this treasure is just one of the unique Viking Age finds on display at the Prehistoric Denmark exhibition. Overall, they form part of the history that created the Danes as a people and the Danish state – its power, symbols, trade and religion.

The rune hall k Just as the Vikings would often place their rune stones by busy thoroughfares for public
perusal, the Rune Hall at the National Museum is located at a point where several passages intersect. It’s here that Thorger, Nærve and Asråd step out of the past to meet us. The heraldic symbols on the rune stones give us a striking glimpse of some of the most powerful people in the Viking age.