1 2 3 4 5 6 0 - Historiska museet

Travelling exhibition

Content 01
About the exhibition & the Team 02
Themes 03
Route guidance - Belt of sources 04
0 - Introduction - Europe 750 to 1100 05-06
Theme 1 - Making the Viking 07-08
Theme 2 - Homes, Colourful and Bustling 09-10
Theme 3 - More than just Worship 11-12
Theme 4 - The Living and the Dead 13-14
Theme 5 - Made by Vikings 15-16
Theme 6 - Away on Business 17-18
7 - Viking ship 19
Basic data 20
Images 21
About us and Contact 22

Team:
About the exhibition 02
Peter Elsässer, Siegfried Brugger, Sales Manager, MuseumsPartner
Katty Hauptman Wahlgren, Project Manager, Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
Maria Christina Zingerle, Concept Manager, studio exhibit
Gunnar Andersson, Scientifi c Expert, Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
Petter Ljunggren, Educational Expert, Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
Oliver Pfeiler, Exhibition Designer, studio exhibit
Ulrik Skans, Senior Conservator, Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
Sophie Nyman, Head of Exhibitions and Learning, Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
„we call them Vikings“ challenges our picture of
the Viking Age.
What do we really know about the people we call
Vikings?
More than a thousand years ago Viking culture
was advancing, and the Viking Age has become
a mythical period in Scandinavia. But the world
of the Vikings has changed as a result of the
archaeological discoveries of recent years.
Who were they, how did they live and what did
their world look like?
These are some of the questions you will fi nd
answers to in a modern exhibition that is based on
new archaeological fi ndings and interaction with
the museum visitors.
Their story is told with the help of a large number of
unique objects from Historiska museet in Stockholm,
objects that have rarely been shown outside
Scandinavia.
Six different themes in the exhibition give insights
into domestic life, death rituals, the signifi cance of
craft, the power of mythology and the symbolism
of the Viking ships.
Trite stereotypes are removed and the Vikings
manifest themselves in a new, more nuanced and
fascinating light than ever.

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Themes 03
0 - Introduction - Europe 750 to 1100
Theme 1 - Making the Viking
Theme 2 - Homes, Colourful and Bustling
Theme 3 - More than just Worship
Theme 4 - The Living and the Dead
Theme 5 - Made by Vikings
Theme 6 - Away on Business
7 - Optional - Viking Ship
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0
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1

Route guidance 04
„Belt of sources“
The exhibition starts with the Belt of sources, which in the Introductory zone
contains a general introduction to the exhibition. The Belt of sources
continues as a companion for the visitors bracing the exhibition by offering
archaeological and written sources relevant for the Viking Age together
with the displayed exhibits, in addition to seats for short rests.

Charles I (Charlemagne)
Europe in 814
Cyrillic Alphabet
Bayeux tapestry:
Norman conquest of England
0 - Introduction 05
Europe, a construction area
What happened between 750 and 1100 in what we know as Europe?
The exhibition deals with the period between 750 and 1100
in Scandinavia. Contemporary events in other parts of Europe
are used to act as comparison to the surrounding world
of the Vikings.
Traditionally the start of the „Viking Age“ has been set to
8 June 793 when plundering Vikings attacked the monastery of
Lindisfarne. But it is not altogether easy to date the „Viking Age“.
Different time frames appear depending on the studied material.
There is also clear evidence that contacts with the continent
and the British Isles stem from a much earlier date than the Viking
Age.
„Belt of sources“:
* Introduction to the exhibition
* The „Belt of sources“ is introduced to the visitors as a companion
through the exhibition.
* Beginning and end of the ”Viking Age”
as a historical and archaeological construction.

Otto the Great
2nd Crusade to Jerusalem
Scandinavian routes
Monastery of Lindisfarne
0 - Introduction 06
Europe 750 to 1100
We know that Scandinavian travellers took home both goods
and important information about conditions and opportunities
in foreign counties many centuries before the „Viking Age“.
During the Viking Age encounters sometimes grew into armed
confl icts. The causes can to a large extent be traced to
domestic politics in the realms of the Franks and in England.
Design:
Eight events, dates and personalities important for European
history (including Scandinavia) between 750 and 1100 will be
displayed. Large-screen panels hanging on a „scaffolding“-like
construction underline the character of a building site.

Theme 1
Making the Viking
We do not really know what the name „Viking“ stood for
But we do know that the Vikings were not a national entity.
The word “Viking” was used already during the Viking Age,
sometimes with reference to things that people did:
“being out as a Viking” or “acting like a Viking”.
At other times it seems to have referred to a person,
or rather a person’s surname.
In the exhibition we have chosen to defi ne the Viking as a
person from Scandinavia involved in plundering,
trade or colonization.
The Viking was commonly a man. Although there are a few
examples, women, slaves (‘thralls’) and children were rarely
Vikings.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Start date of the Viking Age, 750: Anglo-Saxon_Chronicle
*Norse sources: ordinary people are referred to as norroenar
or norroenir menn (‘Norrön men’).
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Theme 1
Making the Viking
„Vikings” and other people during the Viking Age
In the Norse sources, ordinary people are referred to as Norroenar.
When introducing themselves, they would probably have used the
name of the farm, estate, village or area where they lived.
Nowadays the Viking Age is synonymous with Viking raids for many
people. Traditionally the raids are shown as being conducted only
by men, often wearing horned helmets.
Although they are only a fi gment of our modern imagination these
helmets are probably the most well-known Viking Age stereotype.
But the mythical Viking raider is not a fi gment pure and simple,
as long as we realize that most Scandinavians during the Viking
Age were never Vikings. On the contrary, the Vikings seem to have
been feared at home as well as abroad.
Design:
A “table”, shaped like a “ship” with 5 “bows” (front part of a ship),
symbolises the art of being capable of navigating in every
direction. On the table area the word “Vikings” is engraved with
large letters. Pictures and maps (geographical, historical maps, ...)
of Scandinavia will be projected across the „Vikings“
engraving. Screens for texts and showcases are placed around
the sides of the table.
Projection
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Projection
Theme 2
Homes, Colourful and Bustling
The daily life a multicoloured and animated mosaic
The domestic environment was colourful and anything but grey,
colourless and harsh, as one might otherwise be led to believe.
The well-situated people had ornaments of glossy bronze,
weapons of burnished steel and artistically ornamented combs
that they wore together with their clothing.
Textile fragments from graves show that even in simple agrarian
environments, not only wool but silk and linen too were
available.
Textiles were generally dyed with plant materials and dyes were
based largely on regional fl ora.
Pigment analyses of runes and pictorial stones reveal that these
too were colourfully painted.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Archaeology about settlements
*”Rigstula”, the social structure of the ”vikings”
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Theme 2
Homes, Colourful and Bustling
Strong women managing the Viking Age farms
The houses belonging to the single farms were often up to
20 metres long and built in accordance with a building tradition
that was several hundred years old.
The Viking Age free women were responsible for the management
of the farms. The farm was the very centre of the Viking Age world
and consequently of the utmost importance. Free women enjoyed
greater equality than the Christian women of later generations.
Viking Age farms, villages and “towns”
Settlement patterns varied in different parts of the homelands.
In some areas the usual pattern was one of farmland
concentrated in villages, while in others single farms were the norm.
At the beginning of the Viking Age a new settlement pattern appears
in many places in Scandinavia: towns started to appear.
Design:
Scandinavian ”long house” - the „outer walls“ have a pattern of
a mosaic containing images, texts, showcases relating
to Scandinavian-Viking Age living, and a movie about the famous
and well studied town ”Birka”.
”Inside” the long house at the left narrow side a projection
implies the life in a viking house with images and sounds of
people working, cooking, children, dogs, etc.
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Projection

Theme 3
More than just worship
Religious transition
During most of the Viking Age people in Scandinavia combined two
very different religious systems: the domestic Old Norse religion and
Christianity.
The two systems seemed to have blended into a kind of hybrid, as
can often be inferred from existing graves. Religion may in those
days not have been such a “great watershed” between people as
it later became. “White Christ” was from the Viking point of view not
hard to accept; the crux was rather how his doctrine affected the
everyday side of life.
But by the end of the Viking Age Christianity dominated in
Scandinavia and by 1100 AD it was the only offi cial religion in
Scandinavia.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Written and archaological sources:
cemeteries, Snorre Sturlasson‘s Edda.
Projections
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Multitouch-table with a boat-grave

Theme 3
More than just worship
The old custom
The Old Norse religion cannot be compared with a “religion”
in the conventional Western sense of the word. Instead,
the expression used in the sources is forn siðr, i.e. “old custom”.
This old custom related to all aspects of life and death and
consequently to a great deal more than just the worship of deities.
But, there are no contemporary sources that describe people’s
religious beliefs and customs. The most coherent report on religion
in the Norse area was produced in 1220-30 by the Icelandic chief
and poet Snorre Sturlasson in a document known as the prose
Edda. According to Snorre, the supernatural world was populated
by two different mythological beings: gods and giants.
Design:
The huge circles symbolises the closely intertwined existence of
both of the beliefs which nevertheless went side by side.
The outer circle represents Old Norse religion,
the inner circle the Christianity.
Both of the circles have interactive elements and projections.
Behind and slightly hidden the „Religious transition“.
The „Belt of sources“, in this area corresponding to the „divine“
theme, is slightly elevated and bears showcases and the
corresponding written and archaeological sources.
„Religious transition“
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Theme 4
The Living and the Dead
Graves express various symbols and meanings
The dead continued to belong to the farm household and
“lived on”, but in the mound or the mountain rather than in the
house itself.
Thus the cemeteries were living places near the family
settlement that were used for many other purposes than burials.
These ideas have a distinctly popular touch and are not
mentioned in the “aristocratic” Edda and Norrön poetic
literature.
In the poetic Edda we meet instead the aristocratic kingdoms of
the dead, the most famous of which is Valhall. Valhall is Oden’s
hall, where he receives half the fallen warriors selected by the
Valkyries.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Ibn Fadlan’s report about the burial ceremony
of a Rus-Viking chief
* The poetic Edda and poetic literature:
aristocratic kingdoms of the dead.
*Archaeology
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1200 hanging rivets of a boat

Theme 4
The Living and the Dead
Individualistic and collective mentality
In contrast to the Christian approach, which was
unequivocally individualistic, pre-Christian mentality was
more centered on the collective.
You could count on a good life in the hereafter if you in this
life embraced values that benefi ted your own family, kinship
or warrior collective.
As regards the warrior aristocracy, an honourable death on
the battlefi eld gave credit while a natural death on the farm
was anything but glorious.
Design:
A multi-touch-table carries the documentation of a boat grave,
placed between the „gods“ and the „death“.
A ribbon-like gateway encompasses 1200 rivets of a boat,
representing an aristocratic boat grave contrasted with a grave
of an „ordinary person“. A sophisticated light-setting casts a
(moved) shadow of the 1200 rivets on the fl oor of the gateway.
By „walking through“ the gateway the visitor is reminded of the
connection between the living and the dead among the Viking
Age people.
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Theme 5
Made by Vikings
Craftsmen, polyvalent and skillful
A typical element of craftsmanship was the ability to transform
fi nished products acquired from foreign countries.
Such objects originally had a certain function, but assumed a
different signifi cance in Viking Age culture.
Craft, especially metal craft, had metaphysical and
mythological signifi cance. It is stated in Völvan’s Prophecy that
the Aesir/gods forged metal.
Forging in this context means “creating” or “making”.
The gods were regarded as craftsmen in one sense or other and
refi nement of metal as a way of changing the world as created
by the gods.
For this reason craftsmen also had to master the rituals that
controlled certain forces in the world.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Runes and rune stones
*Archaeology
*Myths about the craftmen
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Theme 5
Made by Viking Age craftsmen
The craftmanship
Viking craftsmen used many different materials, for example
textiles, metal (wrought iron and steel and precious metal),
wood, bone and horn, leather, glass and pottery.
They were skilful and had great knowledge when it came
to the best way of working up their raw material.
Their craft was the result of ancient learning and traditions.
Carving and deciphering runes was also a part of a tradition
going back several hundred years.
Runes were generally used for inscriptions on large stones and
on various portable wood or bone objects. But as far as we
know they were not used for inscriptions on paper or parchment.
Design:
In the center the craftsmen and their resources
(tools, raw material, myths…).
Outside the results of their work (objects, originally Scandinavian
or transformed, …) looking back to the center as if they were
asking „who made us“?
The belt of sources is getting wider offering a platform
to show and discuss the skills of the craftsmen and their goods.
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Theme 6
Away on business
Ships - the key to a Viking journey
The Vikings were capable of navigating the seas without
instruments and navigation calculations.
Instead, they used knowledge about winds, tidal currents,
weather phenomena and travelling times accumulated
by many generations of ancestors.
Ships were the key to the Vikings’ journeys over the seas
and a strong symbolic element of the age,
and this is also borne out by the many ‘kennings’ – poetic
circumlocutions – for ships that occur in
Norse poetic literature.
‘Havets häst’ (Seahorse), ‘Våghäst’ (Wavehorse),
‘Segelhäst’ (Sailhorse) and ‘Havets skida’ (Seaskis)
are some common examples.
„Belt of sources“:
*Maps
*Runes, rune stones, Picture stones of Gotland
*Greenland Saga; Ingvar Saga, ...
*Archaeology: ships of Gokstad, Oseberg, Äskekärr, ...
*Viking‘s shipbuilding
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Theme 6
Away on business
Expedition - looting - colonisation - shipwreck
Even if contacts with the continent occurred earlier,
the world of the Scandinavians expanded considerably
during the Viking Age.
The Viking Age offered plenty of scope for cultural
and new infl uences.
Riches and exclusive articles such as luxury objects,
cloth and clothing, but perhaps most of all silver,
fl owed into Scandinavia.
We do not know how much derived from legitimate trade
and how much from plunder. Both activities were probably
closely interconnected.
We should also remember that not all journeys ended as
planned. There were doubtlessly many shipwrecks,
especially in the open sea.
Design:
A skeleton of an abstract ship has both front and back.
It implies the ability to navigate in two directions, i.e. „go on viking“
and come back home.
The skeleton carries screens for text, showcases and graphic elements.
An interactive module shows the Vikings’ shipbuilding skill.
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7 - Viking ship
Optional:
“The Viking ship”:
A true-to-scale and authentic reconstruction of a
“Viking ship” can be part of the exhibition.
The vessel actually navigated several times along
the rivers of the Viking Age commercial routes to
the black sea.
Films recorded their journeys and adventures.
Like a new route now the ship escorts the exhibition
“We Call them Vikings”. For visitors it is even
possible to enter the Viking ship.
With lack of space for the large ship a
reconstruction of a smaller “Viking ship” from a
boat grave can be offered.
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Basic data
Exhibits:
Historiska Museet -
The Museum of National Antiquities Stockholm, Sweden,
with one of the largest exhibition from the Viking Period
in the world
About 300 unique objects, rarely shown outside Scandinavia
Exhibition size:
From 650 sqm fl oor space up to 1.000 sqm fl oor space
Flexible modular design-system
The exhibition will be bilingual (English and your own language)
Turnkey delivery service
1st exhibition opening: Year 2011
Loan periode: Minimum of 3 month’s / venue
Maximum of 6 month’s / venue
Merchandising
Catalogue
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Images
02 - Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
04, 05, 06 - http://commons.wikimedia.org
07 - 18 Exhibits: Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
07 - 18 Pictures: http://commons.wikimedia.org
19 - Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm
05 - 20 Renderings: Virtual DynamiX, Vienna www.vdx.at
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Katty Hauptman Wahlgren
Gunnar Andersson
Petter Ljunggren
Ulrik Skans
Sophie Nyman
Peter Elsässer
Siegfried Brugger
Maria Christina Zingerle
Oliver Pfeiler
About us and Contact
Statens historiska museum, Stockholm
Historiska museet is one of Sweden’s largest museums with
a unique collection of archaeological artifacts from Sweden.
The permanent Viking exhibition and the Gold Room display
original objects from the Scandinavian Iron and Viking Ages,
including many key objects from the periods and gold treasures
from what is known as Scandinavia’s Gold Age.
Information in English about Historiska museet / The Museum of National Antiquities
www.shmm.se
MuseumsPartner, Innsbruck - Vienna
www.museumspartner.com
studio exhibit, Vienna
www.museumspartner-exhibit.com
Our experience and educational skills lie in communication with the
museums; the sales management of exhibition and turnkey
exhibition management, Peter Elsässer and Siegfried Brugger
(MuseumsPartner);
in formal composition and in design, Oliver Pfeiler (studio exhibit);
and the concept development of scientifi c contents for exhibitions,
MariaChristina Zingerle (studio exhibit).
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Contact content and objects:
Katty Hauptman Wahlgren
katty.wahlgren@historiska.se
+46-8-51 95 56 70
Contact sales and bookings:
Peter Elsässer
elsaesser@museumspartner.com
+43-512-562 80 00
+43-664-210 06 73
Siegfried Brugger
brugger@museumspartner.com
+43-512-562 80 00
+43-650-401 19 10
Contact production and design:
M.Christina Zingerle
zingerle@museumspartner.com
+43-1-47 88 553
+43-650-59 59 759