After touring a museum, what do you think is the best gift shop souvenir to commemorate your visit? A post card? A magnet? The online gift shop for the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, has got something far more appropriate: an actual Viking boat to stage your own conquests.
The Viking Ship Museum is now offering the public the chance to buy a Viking longboat via its online shop.
Nordic Culture’s marketing director Anders Roge explained that the popularity of the Vikings is continuing to grow so they believe the opportunity to purchase an authentic Viking boat online is sure to be a great success. He said that the custom-built ships should be able to fulfill a childhood dream, and could be used in a company’s marketing strategy or taken for a weekend cruise by families and friends.
The custom-build vessels come in a range of models, with the almost 10-metre Gokstad Ship – used for exploration, warfare, trade and commerce during the Viking Age – being among the most spectacular.
Roge pointed out that the popularity of TV series ‘Vikings’ as well as the success of the National Museum of Denmark’s Viking exhibition, which has been displayed in Berlin and London, proves that current interest in the Vikings’ history and culture is on the up.
The Viking Ship Museum is renowned for using the Vikings’ shipbuilding tradition to recreate the old wooden boats for exhibitions and research, but its new move will extend to companies and people in the private sector.