Roskilde Cathedral and the viking ship museum

Visit the magnificent red-brick cathedral from the 1170´s with its impressive tall spires and is considered one of Denmark’s most important architectural monuments.

The cathedral has been the burial church for Danish royalty since the 15th century, with beautifully decorated vaults and in dark crypts, with the numerous side chapels and porches added on over the years. The cathedral is the final resting place of almost  40 Danish monarchs.

Roskilde Cathedral came on the UNESCO´s list of world heritage sites in Denmark in 1995.

Roskilde is a city of both kings and vikings.

The town was easy access to a natural harbour at the end of the fjord which led the Vikings to establish the town and commercial centre here, and this is borne out by the discovery of five Viking ships in the fjord which can now be seen in the Viking Ship Museum.

I.

Viking ship museum

Experience the amazing museum where you can see the original Viking ships. It is located to an outstanding view overlooking the fjord where a lot of the ships were found.

Feel the presence of history that bear witness to war, trade and sea voyages to distant places. The Viking Ship Museum focuses on the Vikings’ maritime craftsmanship and their impressive ships. Follow the work in the Boatyard and visit the large boat collection in the Museum Harbour.

II.

Climb on board a Viking ship and become a real viking for a day

The Museum is the only place in the world where you can experience seeing 1000-year-old Viking ships, and then go directly out to the Museum harbour, where the full-scale reconstructed Viking ships lie moored at the quayside. The Viking Ship Museum invites its guests to take part in unique sailing trips with either Viking ships or traditional Nordic boats, which are the descendents of the Vikings’ ships. Viking ships were originally used for war, trading, fishing and transport during short every day trips or on longer voyages to foreign shores.