Viking warship goes on show

The surviving timbers of the longest Viking warship ever found are set to go on display in the UK for the first time.

The ship, known as Roskilde 6 and dated to AD1025, was excavated from the banks of Roskilde fjord in Denmark during the course of work undertaken to develop the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum in 1997.

The timbers have been conserved and analysed by the National Museum of Denmark, and the surviving timbers – approximately 20 per cent of the original ship – have now been re-assembled for display in a specially made stainless steel frame that reconstructs the full size and shape of the original ship. The 37-metre-long ship will go on display as part of the BP exhibition, Vikings: life and legend, in the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery at the British Museum in London.