The story started back in the 1880s. In 2027 we will have a new building. But a stripped building that does not properly serve our aims of an iconic Museum of the Viking Age. The final word has not been spoken on this.
Recent history
It is almost 5 years since the Solberg government gave the go-ahead for the new Museum of the Viking Age. For more than a hundred years, various governments had pushed the responsibility for the Viking ships ahead of them, but now the Solberg government’s Granavolden Declaration had set a new course.
The jubilation did not last long. In May 2022, the St?re government decided that the building costs for the new museum had to be reduced by one billion Norwegian kroner. We fought this, and in June the decision was partially reversed. The cut ended up at “only” 300 million. We celebrated moderately. The director of the Museum of Cultural History, Aud T?nnessen, recently drew renewed attention to what these short-term motivated cuts entail in an op-ed in Aftenposten (In Norwegian, 3 July 2022).
The consequences are significant
In her op-ed, T?nnessen writes: "Crucial functions such as exhibition rooms and activities for school children are not completed, nor are outdoor park areas with playgrounds and a café. Lecture halls and laboratories where the public can meet our research are delivered as just outer structures. The restaurant area is delivered without a production kitchen. There are no offices or facilities for employees, and technical solutions are reduced. In sum, everything that has been removed will lower the overall experience for Norwegian and foreign visitors, and the museum’s operating situation will be unsatisfactory.”
So the struggle continues to create a museum that our most important cultural heritage deserves; a museum that the Norwegian population and guests from all over the world deserve. The exact price for the parts of the building – which the government expects UiO to finance privately – is now, of course, much higher than the 250-300 million that originally were cut. We may need to multiply the cost by three, and that number increases continually.
It all started in the 1880s
Ever since the 1880s, the Storting has been urged to finance a new museum for the University of Oslo’s important cultural history collections. In 1898 the Storting reluctantly agreed – on the condition that the building would not house the Viking ships from Tune and Gokstad, which at the time were exhibited in sheds in the University Garden. When the Historical Museum was completed at Tullinl?kka in 1904, the building was already severely undersized.
The issue was not improved by the discovery of the Oseberg ship that same year. This ship was brought to Oslo with the help of generous private donations – the state was not able to cover the costs. The ship was stored in a simple corrugated iron shed. The thousand-year-old ship planks soon showed clear signs that they were being damaged by the poor storage conditions. Aftenposten even published “fake news” in 1906 and claimed that the ships had burned down overnight to draw attention to the irresponsible handling of the ships.
For the University’s Collection of National Antiquities, to which the Viking ships belong, the situation was completely untenable. The collection’s curator, Gabriel Gustafson, worked intensively to secure a satisfactory museum building for the three ships.
In 1913, after several years of official studies, it was decided that a new museum building should be built at Bygd?y. A plot was purchased, large enough to house an entire national museum. In 1914, the newly established architect Arnstein Arneberg won the architectural competition with the sketch Osebergdronningen, the first draft of today’s Viking Ship Museum.
Initial funding in 1916
The curator of the Collection of National Antiquities, Gabriel Gustafson, led the process up to the completed architectural competition. He died in 1915 and therefore never saw the plans realized. It was his successor, Anton Wilhelm Br?gger, who took over the project. Br?gger had no easy task, although it started well: in 1916, the initial funding was secured in the National Budget. However, the following year, money ran out. The funding had only financed foundation work for three of the four planned wings.
After several years of intensive lobbying from Br?gger, in 1926 the Storting allocated enough funds for building the hall housing the Oseberg ship. That same year, the ship was brought into the hall after a spectacular journey through the city on railway tracks and barges.
Then everything came to a halt. It was impossible to secure a parliamentary grant to continue the work.
Royal Resolution with strong reservations in 1927
In 1927 funds were made available by Royal Resolution from funds related to coal power production during the First World War. This was far from enough, though. Br?gger had to mobilize his entire network to raise money privately so that the wings housing the Tune ship and the Gokstad ship, as well as the central tower, could be erected.
The fundraising did not cover all expenses, and so Br?gger took out loans secured by his own salary to complete the tower. We can see evidence of the lack of funds even today: the observant visitor will notice that the inside of the tower appears to be solid masonry but is actually built of wood plastered with cement.
The Royal Resolution was most appreciated, but it was also conditional. The funds were granted with the clause that financing the completion of the Viking Ship Museum was not the public’s concern. The state did not want to spend more money on securing the iconic Viking ships. Nevertheless, the University of Oslo and the Collection of National Antiquities could celebrate the opening of the two new wings in 1932, thanks to Br?gger’s tireless efforts.
The subsequent governments kept their word. Although the University of Oslo repeatedly asked for funds to complete the building, with a fourth wing that could house the findings from Gokstad and Oseberg, the Storting systematically rejected the applications. Br?gger died in 1951 with the matter unresolved.
Selling of bonds in 1957
Br?gger’s death must have shocked the university leadership. Shortly after, they decided to sell bonds to erect the fourth wing. The wing was completed in 1957, and the magnificent objects from the Oseberg grave could finally be displayed.
The opening created Viking fever the following decade among Norwegian artists, designers, and cultural enthusiasts, who found inspiration in designs from the Viking Age. Few noticed that the hall was built in the simplest way and far below the standard for sustainable museum buildings. Sixty years later, the overly simple solutions threaten to destroy the exhibited objects.
It had taken seventy years to get the Viking ships housed. Perhaps both the parliamentary politicians and the University of Oslo thought the matter was resolved. Not so.
The Viking ships have world heritage status and will always be of great interest to the public. Visitor numbers have steadily increased since the 1950s. Arneberg had imagined about 40,000 visitors a year. Before the museum was closed for renovation in 2021, more than 550,000 people visited annually. The capacity was long since exceeded, which put the ships, the building, and the visitors to the test.
The support system for the ship hulls, developed in the early 1900s, were far from good enough. It could not be improved as long as the ships were placed in the old museum. A new building became a prerequisite for safeguarding the Viking ships for the future. The situation was not so different from what Aftenposten described in 1906: without a new building, the safety of the ships constituted an ever growing challenge. In other words: the fight for a new museum continued and was both intense and demanding.
Official study in 2014
In 2014, the Solberg government ordered an official study into a new museum building for the Viking ships at Bygd?y. In 2018, the planning was completed, and the government received a quality-assured project for a new building as an extension of the old one – a project that was applauded by both laypeople and experts.
The efforts to secure funding were intensified, and editors in newspapers across Norway engaged in the fight. The Viking Ship Museum is a part of the University of Oslo, but the ships are, of course, our common national heritage. As such, “all of Norway” applauded when the initial funding was announced on UiO’s 208th anniversary.
Goal: an iconic Museum of the Viking Age
We should be glad that the new Museum of the Viking Age is now emerging at Bygd?y.
State Secretary Ivar B. Prestbakmo emphasizes in his answer to the critical DN editorial that the safety of the collection is the project’s most important goal. He is, of course, absolutely right. UiO has fought tooth and nail since 1880 to secure the ships and objects a “good and safe home.”
And in many ways, it will be a functional building. It will secure the fragile Viking treasures for the future. However, it is hard to believe that the cut of 250-300 million kroner in 2022 was based on an socio-economic analysis. The cut significantly degrades the museum and dramatically reduces the opportunities for dissemination and learning. We do not get the iconic, research-based Museum of the Viking Age that was planned.
I believe this is a loss both economically and to Norway as a cultural nation. The long ‘history of suffering’ continues. The final word has not been spoken on this.
