Three 1,200-year-old Viking ships are about to embark on their final and possibly riskiest journey to their new home in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
The Viking ships will be moved for the first time in nearly 100 years in a painstaking operation.
The first ship to make the move is the Oseberg, which will inch its way from the old Viking Ship Museum to a new extension called the Museum of the Viking Age.
Oseberg will make the 100-metre journey over 10 hours, lifted by a crane moving on a track on the ceiling.
The new home's climate-controlled environment offers optimal conditions for the Oseberg's fragile oak hull.
“The primary task of the new museum is to ensure the preservation of these cultural treasures for new generations,” museum director Aud Tonnessen said.
“There is something deeply moving when you think that these ships – with their long history and all the voyages they have undertaken – will embark on their final journey.”
Named after the places where they were discovered, the Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune have been housed in a cross-shaped building considered too small and unsuitable to conserve them properly. They are secured in specially built steel rigs that weigh 50 tons.
“They've been subjected to humidity and vibrations. Over time, the strain became so intense that they started showing signs that they would eventually collapse onto their supports,” Ms Tonnessen said.
The new facility should make it possible to maintain the ships in their current condition for at least another century, but the relocation is a complicated process.
“Our worst fear is that something dramatic might happen to the ships, conservator-in-charge David Hauer said. “However, we have prepared thoroughly, implemented effective control systems, and we will test the moving system in advance.
“We have to complete this operation without causing any further damage to the ships, but we know that each handling is harmful to them.
“These are clinker hulls (featuring partially overlapping planks) that are 1,200 years old. At the slightest deformation, they split between the rivets: the wood cracks,” he added.
– With agencies
