07.01.2015
'The Vikings’ exhibition ended on Sunday after attracting some 180,000 visitors. 'We can count this as a huge success’, said Matthias Wemhoff, Director of the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. In the last days before closing, visitor numbers went up to 4500 people a day - including many families.
The exhibition was developed in association with the National Museum of Denmark and the British Museum, and was on show in the Gropius Bau in Berlin from 10 September 2014 to 4 January 2015. Wemhoff explained that the display of the outstanding exhibits was only possible thanks to the international cooperation between the major museums. He went on to say that: 'Visitors to the exhibition were able to gain a new perspective on "the” Vikings and encountered them in all facets of their being: as traders and warriors, conquerors and explorers, adventurers and founders of states.’
The centrepiece of the exhibition was the wreck of the largest Viking ship ever found - the Roskilde 6. The 37-meter-long longship was found in the harbour of the Danish town of Roskilde in 1997 and went on display in the atrium of the Gropius Bau after completing the first stages of the exhibition in Copenhagen and London. The exhibition was accompanied by an extensive education and outreach programme.