Viking ships of 3 millennia embark on a last high risk trip in a house

Oslo – Three 1,200-year-old Viking ships who resisted the time test embarked on their final trip and perhaps the most risky in their new house forever in Norway. The first to take the plunge is the OSEBERG, which will slowly go from its current location in the old Viking ship museum to a newly built addition which will house national treasures in optimal conditions.

The extremely fragile oak shell, locked in a strong protective steel platform, began to travel about a hundred yards on Tuesday. He had to take more than 10 hours, the ship raised by a crane and moved along a track on the ceiling.

“There is something deeply moving when you think these ships – with their long history and all the trips they have made – will embark on their last trip,” said Museum Director Aud Tonnesen.

In an article on its Facebook page on Wednesday, the museum said that the team deploying the ships “was actually a step ahead yesterday and covered the first 20 meters. It went perfectly according to the plan.”

The museum has shared an accelerated video of the Oseberg accelerated in moving slowly, suspended in the air on an air rail system and locked up in its robust steel frame for travel.

Named according to the places they were discovered, the Osberg, Gokstad and Tune – all suspected of having been built between 840 and 910 – were housed in a cross -shaped building considered too small and unsuitable to keep them properly.

“They were subjected to humidity, to vibrations … Over time, the tension has become so intense that they started to show signs that they would end up collapsing on their support,” said Tonnessen.

A decision was therefore made to move them to a new climate -controlled installation, built as an extension of the old museum, which should keep ships in their current state for at least another century.

The relocation process is perilous.

“We have to finish this operation without damaging the ships, but we know that each treatment is harmful to them,” said conservative David Hauer, who has been planning the project for years.

“These are clinker shells (with partially overlapping boards) that are 1,200 years. In smaller deformation, they separate between rivets, wood cracks,” said Hauer.

Endless precautions were taken to prevent any break or vibrations during relocation. The ship will be moved extremely slowly, at a rate of 5.5 minutes per meter.

Among other things, an petroleum service company experienced in high precision work – such as the positioning of massive structures at almost 1,000 feet under the sea with extreme precision – has been called.

“But it’s still another level,” said Hauer.

“The level of precision required, for example with regard to vibrations, is the same as for electron microscopes in hospitals” which require extreme stability, he said.

“Except here, this involves lifting the electron microscope, moving it, then putting it back so that you can use it again,” he said.

If everything goes as planned, the Gokstad should then be moved during the fall, then finally the song in the summer of 2026.

The three ships were found in separate burial sites in the southwest and southeast of Oslo between 1867 and 1904, each very distinct from the other.

Richly decorated with ornate sculptures, the OSBERG is considered the best preserved Viking ship in the world.

Gokstad is the largest of the three, measuring 75 feet long and 16 feet wide, with a space for 32 rowers.

The whole is much more decomposed than the other two and would have been a particularly rapid warship.

While Norway and its Scandinavian neighbors are often the most associated with the archaeological discoveries of the Viking era, human history in the region far exceeds the legendary masters of the sea.

In Denmark, the coastal colonies that were engulfed by the rise of the seas more than 8,500 years ago were characterized by divers this summer. Now, about 26 feet under the waves, near the second largest city in Denmark Aarhus, there is evidence of a stone age on the seabed.

It was discovered by divers as part of a $ 15.5 million project over six years to map parts of the Baltic and the North Sea floors, which is funded by the European Union. The objective of the project is to explore landscapes below and to discover colonies of lost Mesolithic period as offshore energy and other infrastructure projects are increasing.