The history of the Viking Museum Ladby

In 1934-35, Denmark’s first Viking ship was excavated at Ladby by Kerteminde fjord. The excavation of the Ladby ship was a world sensation and thousands of visitors flocked in from home and abroad. With the support of excavator Poul Helweg Mikkelsen, a concrete vault was erected over the excavated ship’s grave, which was preserved at the site, exactly as the archaeologists left it. In 1937, “Denmark’s most remarkable maritime museum” was opened to the public.

Since the ship’s grave with The Ladby Ship is a unique part of Danish cultural heritage, it is still The National Museum that owns the burial mound, ship, and discoveries from the burial. But in 1994, the operation and presentation of the museum was left to East Funen Museums who initiated a step-by-step development of the museum. In 1998, The Ladby Ship became the subject of a PhD project, which shed new light on the unique discovery. In 2007, the museum was expanded with an exhibition of the original discoveries from the excavation and since then, archaeological discoveries from the area have continuously become exhibitions at the museum.

In 2011 – 2017, two major projects were carried out at The Viking Museum in collaboration with the museum’s many volunteers; “The Ladby Dragon” – a reconstruction of The Ladby ship in full size and “The Ladby Tapestry” – a tapestry with an artistic story about The Ladby King’s life and death.

In 2018, The Viking Museum entered a new development phase. Kerteminde Municipality bought 5 hectares of land around the museum, and the land was left to the museum with the aim of developing the museum with a Viking farm, landscape presentation, and new museum buildings for archaeological exhibition, presentation, and research. In 2020, the first projects with the construction of Viking houses, new tapestries and landscaping began.