Viking Museum - Oslo

Vikingskipshuset
   (Viking Ship Museum- Oslo

All the viking ships at the museum were ocean going vessels before they were hauled onto land to be used in burial rituals for their wealthy owners. In the burial mounds, archeologists unearthed skeletons, beautiful wood carvings and a diverse range of artifacts from the fascinating world of the vikings. 





The Oseberg Viking Ship - 

The Oseberg ship was built in southwestern Norway around the year 820, and is made of oak.  In 834 two significant women died, and were honoured with a magnificent burial.  The Oseberg ship was pulled ashore and used as a burial ship for the two women. A burial chamber was constructed immediately behind the ship’s mast. Inside, the walls were decorated with a fantastic woven tapestry, and the dead women were laid on a bed made up with bed linen.

The women had a number of burial gifts with them, including:

• Clothes, shoes and combs, Kitchen utensils, Farm tools, Three ornate sleighs and a working sleigh, A cart, Five carved animal heads, Five beds, Two tents., Fifteen horses, Six dogs, Two small cows, among other relics that were found.
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The Gokstad Viking Ship - 

The Gokstad ship was built around 890 AD, at the height of the Viking period. It was a fast and flexible ship that was suitable for voyages on the high seas.  The Gokstad ship could be sailed as well as rowed, and the ship was suited to voyages of discovery, trading and Viking raids.  The ship is made of oak, and is 5.18 m wide and 23.22 m long.  When the ship was excavated, 32 shields were fixed to each side of the boat, painted alternately in yellow and black. White woollen material with red cloth strips sewn on were found in the forepart of the boat, perhaps remnants of the sail. The ends of the bow and stern posts had rotted away so it is not clear how they were finished, but there is nothing to indicate that they were ever fitted with dragon heads.  The burial chamber was covered by several layers of birch bark. The archaeologists found remnants of silk interwoven with gold thread stuck between the logs in the roof. These are possibly the remnants of a lavish woven tapestry that decorated the inside walls. A bed made up with bed linen in which the dead person was laid to rest stood in the burial chamber.

Around approximately 900 AD, a rich and powerful man died, and the Gokstad ship was used for his burial. A burial chamber was built in the aft of the ship where the dead man was laid to rest.  The skeleton shows that the man in the Gokstad grave was in his forties, powerfully built and approximately 6' tall.  Signs of cutting blows to both legs show that he probably died in battle. 

The Tune Viking Ship -  

The Tune ship was found in 1867 on the farm of Nedre Haugen on the island of Rolvsøy, near Fredrikstad. It was the first Viking ship to be excavated and is still one of the best preserved Viking ships in the world.  The burial mound in which the Tune ship lay was unusually large: approximately 80 metres in diameter and around four metres high, making it one of Norway’s largest burial mounds.  Even though the Tune ship is smaller than both the Gokstad and Oseberg ships, it had a stronger mast support, which would  have made it possible for the sail to be as large as 100 square metres. Combined with the shape of the hull, this probably made the ship a fast, sea-going vessel with excellent sailing properties.