Vikings: life and legend

Frustrating exhibition at the British Museum looking at Viking culture and how it influenced and was influenced by the rest of Europe.

I say frustrating because it was very busy and the first room is quite cramped so it involved a lot of queuing. Thanks to the attendant who tried to alleviate this by telling people to move on round where there was more space but if you did that you’d miss out about 4 displays! Also because it was cramped you either queued to look at things or read the commentary, you couldn’t do both! Because of that I seemed to miss the narrative for the first couple of rooms so wasn’t too sure what they were trying to say as the artefacts didn’t seem to be Viking but to be from lands they invaded. Oh and while I’m moaning can I mention not puttying the description of objects so low down where they get covered up by people and where most of your middle aged audience have to bend down to read them due to their varifocals!

The general message seemed to be that the Vikings were sweet and cuddly really, and while I agree, I think we could have done with a bit more about why they got a bad reputation. I’m sure a few Northern English monks didn’t find them sweet and cuddly! I loved the use of quotes from the saga’s around the walls but would have liked a display giving an idea of what a saga was and what an important source they are for the history of the period.

However once you got through that section things got better and the last big room had all iconic pieces, the ship, the Lewis Chess men, the weapons etc. It was quite magical to look at a real Viking shield from a long boat and it was a great idea to show a set of weapons and helmet with a jaw bone, all at face height. The nearest we can get to looking into a Viking face.

I look forward to what else the Museum can do with this new exhibition space but get the flow through it sorted!

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