The Exhibition opens May
2nd 2004
Through text and photos
we follow the Oseberg finds from the excavation of the grave mound in 1904 to
their exhibition in the Viking Ship Museum.
On August 8, 1903, a farmer
named Knut Rom paid a visit to Professor Gabriel Gustafson of The University
Museum of Antiquities in Oslo. Rom had come across a ship while digging in a
large burial mound on his farm, Lille Oseberg in Slagen, Vestfold.
Two days later, Professor
Gustafson arrived at the farm. There could be no doubt; the burial mound was a
ship grave from the Viking Age. The following summer, on June 13, 1904, an
excavation team led by Professor Gabriel Gustafson broke ground with their
shovels. The excavation was to continue until November 5, when the last pieces
of the ship were removed.
Foto 0.0062 It came as a great surprise that the stem of the ship had the finest carvings. No one had seen anything like this since the Viking Age. In order to prevent the wood and its carvings from drying and cracking, the stem was wrapped in wet moss and sacking.
The public greeted the news
of the excavation of the Oseberg burial with great interest. Large numbers of
curious visitors flocked to the site. A fence had to be built, signs made and a
guard posted to ensure that nobody disturbed the ongoing work or came too close
to the artefacts. In his log, Professor Gustafson complains about being on
display while working.
Foto Vfld
fylkesm.
Putting the pieces
together.
When the excavation was
completed in the autumn of 1904, but another 21 years were to pass before the
ship and the majority of the objects were finally conserved and restored.
The ship was treated first.
The conservators tried to use as much of the original wood as possible.
Consequently there is very little new wood in the restored Oseberg ship.
Although some of the iron rivets are new, many of the original rivets were
saved and reused.
Foto 00203 Every
bit of wood was steamed and pressed back into its original shape, and the ship
was reassembled piece by piece.
There
were also problems involved in restoring the wooden objects. Many individual
objects consisted of hundreds of broken pieces. Each piece had to be carefully
conserved so that the object could be reconstructed as authentically as
possible. Some of the sleds took over a year to conserve and restore. At that
time, the most advanced method of treating wood, involved boiling the pieces in
a concentrated solution of alum. Unfortunately, due to this treatment many of
the objects are now extremely fragile, with the consistency of crisp bread.
Foto 0380 From
the restoration workshop. On the table are the preserved sled pieces ready for
assembly. Another sled and one of the bed staffs can be seen in the background.
The Viking Ship Museum at
Bygdøy
There was no room to house
the Oseberg find in the Historical Museum (existing museum). The Tune Ship
(excavated in 1867) and the Gokstad Ship (excavated in 1880) were still being
stored in two sheds in the University gardens.
Thus began Gustavson’s quest
to establish a new museum to house all the Viking ships. After long
discussions, it was decided to build the Viking Ship Museum on Bygdøy.
In1914 Arnstein Arneberg won
an architectural competition with a design that fulfilled the Professor’s wish
for a larger and more modern museum. But when World War I broke out, the plans
were put on hold. In 1915 Professor Gustafson died.
The construction of the
first wing of the museum, the “Oseberg Wing”, was funded by state allocations
in 1926-1927. In 1930 Professor Brøgger managed to have the Gokstad and Tune
Ship Wings built, and the central tower completed by taking out a private loan
using his own salary as collateral.
Foto 3179_c
The Viking Ship Museum, as
original envisioned by architect Arneberg, has never been entirely completed.
The fourth wing, which houses the various burial objects from Oseberg, Gokstad,
Tune and Borre, was first completed in 1957, financed by the University of
Oslo. The work of exhibiting the finds from the Oseberg ship burial was finally
completed, 52 years after the excavation.
After the ship was restored,
another 19 years would pass before it found a permanent home in the new museum
on Bygdøy. The move began in 1926 after half a year of detailed planning. To
avoid damage to the delicate ship, it was transported on rails from the center
of town to the harbor. From there the ship was moved onto a float, which
carried it across the fjord to Bygdøy.
Foto 0.1179 0.0809 0.0812_18
New Relocation? What will the future bring?
The Viking Ship Museum is Norway’s most visited museum,
with around 450,000 guests annually. The large number of visitors, the need for
better public facilities and increased security for the valuable artefacts are
why plans have been underway for many years to modernize the museum.
Both the Historical Museum
and the Viking Ship Museum are now a part of the University Museum of Cultural
Heritage. For the first time, plans for a new museum of cultural history at
Bjørvika in Oslo appear in the National Budget for 2004.
A committee appointed by the
University of Oslo has proposed that the Viking Ships be moved to new museum at
Bjørvika. But many have questioned whether the ships and the many extremely
fragile objects would survive the stress a move like this would expose them to.
The arguments for and against are voiced loudly. What degree of risk are we
willing to accept?
The hope is that the new museum will open in 2011 when the
University of Oslo celebrates its 200-year anniversary. One thing is certain.
The final decision as to whether or not the Viking Ship finds will be included
in the new cultural history museum must be made soon.
Ban on the Export of
Antiquities
The find and excavation of
the Oseberg mound was directly responsible for Norway as early as in 1904
establishing a law prohibiting the export of antiquities.
In 1903 landowner and farmer
Knut Rom was the owner of the Oseberg ship and the other artefacts found in the
burial mound. It was expected that he would give the antiquities to the state
for reimbursement, but under the law, the owner was within his rights to sell
the finds to whomever he pleased. That national treasures had so little
protection under the law caused a great stir.
When the excavations were
completed no agreement between the State and Knut Rom had been reached. The
matter was finally resolved when estate owner Fritz Treschow generously purchased
the find for NOK 12,000 and donated it to the Norwegian State. Soon the
government would pass the important bill prohibiting the export of antiquities.