Meet the craftspeople
In the centre of the museum island you will find the boatyard, where the museum’s boatbuilders work year-round on reconstructions of Viking ships and other traditional wooden boats.
In summer, we also bring some of the other maritime crafts of the Viking Age to life. From May to September, you can experience how traditional methods and techniques are still practised as the craftspeople work.
Depending on when you visit the Viking Ship Museum, you may, in addition to our boatbuilders, meet the blacksmith, textile artisan, woodcarver or ropemaker.
Experience maritime crafts at the museum every day from May to September, 10:00–17:00.
When can you meet the craftspeople?
June | July | August | September | |
Boatbuilder | Every day | Every day | Every day | Every day |
Blacksmith | 5, 6, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 30 | 3, 4, 10, 16, 17, 24, 26, 27, 28, 31 | 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 17, 18, 28 | 4, 5, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26 |
Textile Artisan | 3, 4, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 24, 25 | 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 15, 18, 22, 23, 29, 30 | 5, 6, 12, 16, 19, 20, 26, 27 | 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 27 |
Ropemaker | 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 28, 29 | 6, 7, 13, 14 | 2, 3, 10, 11, 24, 25, 31 | 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 |
Woodcarver | 7, 12 | 11, 12, 19, 20, 21, 25 | 22, 23, 24, 25 |
The Boatbuilders at the boatyard
In the middle of the museum island you will find the boatyard. Here the boatbuilders are working on reconstructions of Viking ships and other traditional wooden boats.
The scent of fresh pine tar fills the air, and the rhythmic sound of the boatbuilder's axe against the oak tree echoes rhythmically across the yard.
The boatbuilders are working on a new Viking Age warship Skuldelev 5, which is exhibited in the Viking Ship Hall. During the guided tour at the boatyard, the boatbuilders will explain and demonstrate the special techniques used by the Vikings when building their impressive ships.
At the boatyard a dedicated area is reserved for our guests to test out their own boatbuilding skills in the 'Build-a-Boat Workshop'.
Rope making in the ropemakers workshop
Rope making is one of the oldest crafts in the world, and many of the techniques and tools used in the museum's rope-making workshop have not changed much since the Viking Age.
Everything indicates that lime bast was the primary material in the Viking Age, supplemented with ropes made of spruce and other plants, skins (from walrus, seal, elk, deer, or ox), hair (from horses, cow tails, or pigs), and wool.
Throughout the summer, you can meet one of the craftspeople, who is skilled in several of the traditional materials and techniques for making ropes.
This summer, he is continuously working on bands for the oars of the Skuldelev 5 ship, which is being built at the boatyard.
The blacksmith
Iron is probably not the first material that comes to mind when you see a Viking ship. However, it is iron nails and wooden pegs that hold the ships together, making the blacksmith's work a crucial part of the boatbuilding process.
When you meet the blacksmith at the museum, you get an insight into the difficult art of handling the red-hot iron.
This summer, you can experience the blacksmiths sweating over the fire as they make anchor chains for the anchor that was made last year for the Skuldelev 5 ship, which is being built at the boatyard.
Perhaps you can help with the bellows and have a chat about the exciting process of forging iron into nails, anchor chains and Viking Age tools.
The Woodcarver
Many objects from the Viking Age are richly decorated with beautiful wood carvings. This also applies to the Viking ships, which are sometimes adorned with elaborate heads and tails.
On the Skuldelev 5 ship, which is exhibited in the Viking Ship Hall, you can find a small remnant of decoration on one side of the ship - if you look closely.
In the Viking Age, the skilled craftsmen who could transform wood into imaginative and beautiful figures were probably called 'woodcarvers'.
Throughout the summer our guests will meet the woodcarver while she is creating various carvings that will be used for the new reconstruction of the Skuldelev 5 warship, which is being built at the boatyard.
