Fotevikens Museum

The "main street" in the Viking village

Map of Foteviken

Fotevikens Museum is a museum in southern Sweden , which primarily as an archaeological open-air museum shows a Viking village from 1134, which is called "Fotevikens Viking Reservoir" . A significant part of the museum concept is based on the most authentic possible revitalization of the time through employees and volunteer living history actors. Foteviken is the largest museum of its kind in Scandinavia .

The museum is located on the Öresund on the headland between the bays Foteviken and Höllviken , around 20 km south of Malmö .

investment

The village consists of over 20 reconstructed buildings within a semicircular wooden palisade and thus gives the image of a typical Viking settlement from the period between 950 and 1150. The landmark of Foteviken is a wooden watchtower. There are some smoking rooms and fishermen's huts by the sea. In the village are u. a. a forge, a bakery, a mint, several gardens, the judge's and weaver's houses, and a large thing-house for meetings. Outside the palisades there are some huts of poor craftsmen, a simple pilgrim hostel, a (pagan) holy grove and a rune stone . In the modern entrance building there is also a small museum introducing you to the Viking Age .

Another ten to 20 buildings are to be added over the next few years.

Historical background

In the vicinity of the complex there are a large number of archaeological sites that date back to the early Nordic Neolithic . Eight of these sites alone belong to the Viking Age. The museum is located in a place that has been shown to 970 to Asen was ordained. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Frankish monks proselytized in pagan Scandinavia. The Vikings expanded the sea trade routes of the Vendel Period between Asia and Europe. This made Scandinavia an important transshipment point. These influences led to significant changes in Nordic culture, which were also reflected in the way the houses were built. The first stone and brick houses were built and new furnishing details such as the fireplace , which replaced the open hearth in the house, were introduced. From the 11th to the early 14th centuries, the bay was an important base during the time of Danish rule .

Life in the Viking Reserve takes place permanently in 1134, the year of the nearby Battle of Fodevig , and the reconstructed buildings belong to the transition period between the late Viking Age (around 950 to 1050) and the early (Scandinavian) Middle Ages (around 1050 to 1150).

History of the museum

In 1993 the marine archaeological association SVEG (Stiftelsen Fotevikens Maritima Centrum) merged with the municipality of Vellinge and the Museum Association of the Falsterbo Peninsula to develop a living history concept for a new museum. With the help of professional archaeologists, u. a. Working groups for shipbuilding, music, archery and craft. Fotevikens Museum was established in 1995 and the foundation stone was laid for the “Viking Reserve”, which was built house by house over the course of the following years. In 1997 the first Viking market took place in the museum. In addition, the foundations for the “Foteviken Law” , which has been regulating life in the village since 2001, were laid. In the same year a village council ("Fotevikens Byalag") was founded, which from now on meets once a month in the Viking style. The meetings serve u. a. to introduce new members to the life of the Vikings. In 2003 the museum was commissioned to set up an additional cog museum in the port of Malmö. In 2004 a new entrance building was completed. Fotevikens Museum has already received the coveted “Scandinavian Travel Award” twice.

Museum education

Living history as a focus of museum education - not just for children

Under the motto "Culture is contact between people", the extensive museum education has always played the most important role in the daily work of the "living" open-air museum.

The museum association SVEG, to which members of the “Viking scene” from 22 different countries now belong, endeavors to present both the buildings and the “residents” in clothing, equipment and their daily activities as authentically as possible, as far as this is possible according to the current state of research can safely reconstruct. Great care is taken to ensure that the residents do not use any modern objects or food (with the exception of glasses and cameras) so that the impression of a journey back in time can arise as undisturbed as possible.

Working with school classes, groups of children and young people who are allowed to experience the life of the Vikings for a few days is very important in museum education.

The museum uses the extensive living history scene for fruitful collaboration. Groups, families or individual actors who are classified as authentic after a thorough examination and who are willing to adhere to the strict rules of the museum during opening hours have the opportunity to temporarily live in the Viking houses. In this way, a much more colorful picture emerges than exclusively with the permanent employees.

From time to time, the museum association also carries out projects in the context of experimental archeology . An example is a boat manufactured in 1999 by the Russian Mischa Naimark. It was made by him with the help of a traditional technique in which the boat parts are sewn together from pine planks with spruce roots . This technique was used before the Iron Age and was used in northwest Russia until the 1920s. In this way, Fotevikens Museum contributed to preserving this boat building technique for posterity.

In order to create as realistic an impression as possible for the “residents”, a museum's own “law” was passed in 2001 for the proclaimed “Viking Empire Foteviken” , which is even ruled by a king.

Events

Since 1997, the "Halör Marknad" has been held every year at the end of June, which has developed into Sweden's largest Viking market. In 2008 the market recorded around 700 "Vikings" from 15 different countries. There is also a smaller market in winter.

network

Fotevikens Museum is part of the transnational cooperation "Baltic History", which is dedicated to the tangible early medieval history of the Baltic Sea region. The cooperation includes a. the Slavic villages Ukranenland (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) and Wolin (Poland).