Pagans and Warriors - The National Museums of Scotland

Vikings! Image © The Swedish History Museum.

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum/past_exhibitions/vikings.aspx

Vikings!

Warriors, explorers, pirates and merchants – what do we really know about the people we call Vikings?

The National Museum of Scotland was the only UK venue to show this outstanding exhibition of more than 500 objects from the world-renowned collections of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. Rarely seen outside Scandinavia, these artefacts showed the Vikings in a new and intriguing light.
   

Warriors, explorers, pirates and merchants – what do we really know about the people we call Vikings?

Recent archaeological discoveries have shed new light on the Viking Age, challenging commonly held conceptions of this key period in European history.
The traditional view of the Vikings – stereotypes of raiders wearing horned helmets – has been replaced by a more complete and up-to-date picture.
The National Museum of Scotland is the only UK venue for this outstanding exhibition of more than 500 objects from the world-renowned collections of the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. Rarely seen outside Scandinavia, these artefacts show the Vikings in a new and intriguing light.

• Silver Thorshammer pendant with filigree ornamentation.
• Animal-head brooch made from bronze, silver and gold.
• Silver and gilded pendant, perhaps of the goddess Frigg.
• Silver pendant in the shape of a male head.
• This silver pendant is considered to be the oldest known crucifix in present-day Sweden.
• The bronze figurine is probably a representation of the fertility god Frey.
• Trefoil brooch of silver and gold with animal ornamentation.

 

Discover the power of mythology and the symbolism of Viking ships; gain fascinating insights into domestic life and death rituals; and view evidence of astonishing Viking workmanship in jewellery, metalwork, textiles and objects made from glass, bone and amber. See the earliest Scandinavian crucifix along with other striking silver pendants representing the pagan Norse Gods.
By bringing together these unique objects with new research and hands-on displays, the exhibition reveals who the Vikings really were, and creates a vivid picture of how they lived more than 1,000 years ago.

 National Museums ScotlandChambers StreetEdinburghEH1 1JF