At the turn of June and July 2023, we visited the open-air museum and experimental archaeology center, Ribe VikingeCenter, in southwestern Denmark. We spent over a week there, bringing back plenty of inspiration and impressions that are hard to describe in just a few sentences.
Welcome to a Viking Age Denmark!
Ribe (along with Hedeby, which is now located in Germany) is considered the oldest Danish city. During the Viking Age, it was a thriving settlement and trade centre. The town is situated on a river that flows into the Fanø Bay in the North Sea, through which merchant ships from England, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands arrived. The Slavs also reached here and plundered the town in the middle of the 11th century.
In the late Middle Ages, Ribe was a monastic center and the seat of Danish kings, who built a castle here. Unfortunately, aside from fragments of its foundations, the castle has not survived to this day. Despite numerous natural disasters and epidemics, Ribe has been continuously inhabited. Today, it is a charming little town (very “hygge”) with narrow streets, old houses overgrown with rose bushes, surrounded by fields and forests.
Ribe VikingeCenter
The Viking Center in Ribe refers to the settlement and trading village that thrived in this area between the 8th and 11th centuries. In our opinion, it is one of the most interesting Viking open-air museums in Europe. The center is expansive and showcases the stages of the settlement’s development – a market and port from the 8th century, a town from the 9th century, and a farm from the late 10th century with live livestock. There is also a reconstruction of an early medieval church, which tells the story of how local beliefs intertwined with Christianity.
The center emphasizes high-quality reconstructions and aims to provide visitors with a sense of authenticity. You can see a working workshop for carpenters, blacksmiths, potters, and glassmakers, or even participate in building a house using medieval materials and techniques. There is a lot going on in terms of craftsmanship. The houses are in constant use and are furnished with equipment typical of an early medieval home and farm, which gives the impression that someone could really live there. The open-air museum is continuously expanding – soon, a reconstruction of a fortress, similar to those built by King Harald Bluetooth (the famous Harald the Bluetooth), will be added.
Reenactors from all over Europe come to Ribe and spend several weeks there, bringing the atmosphere of a living craft and trade village to the museum. We had the pleasure of staying in a guest house, where travelers would have stayed in Ribe during the Viking Age. Our house was not modest… It contained a sleeping area and a hearth, around which we gathered every evening after the museum closed, cooked food, welcomed guests, and relaxed.
The Old Norse Faith and Religion
One thing rarely seen in Viking open-air museums is elaborate spaces dedicated to witches (seers, herbalists, wise women—those possessing knowledge). In Old Norse, women in this role were called völvas. A völva held a high status and authority within the community; people sought her help in times of illness, for protection (especially magical protection), for prophecies, or for advice. Archaeologists have found various objects in the graves of seers, such as wands (a very distinctive feature), hallucinogenic seeds, and aphrodisiacs.
At the Viking Center in Ribe, the völva‘s hut is surrounded by statues of gods and a small sacrificial altar where visitors can leave offerings (a flower, a bead, a coin, or a small personal item). The hut serves as a gateway to a ritual space dedicated to the gods—shaded, marshy, and hidden in the forest—where only a few dare to enter. Those who do will see bones and animal skins, vessels, woven bands tied to branches, pouches, and beads offered to the gods. This space provides an atmospheric representation of the spirituality and religious worldview of the Viking-age Scandinavians.
A Day in the Life of a Reenactor
What is a day like for a volunteer reenactor in a historical village? We’ve gathered a few questions most frequently asked by visitors during our stay at the Viking Center in Ribe.
Yes, we do sleep in these clay-and-wood huts. We cook in pots over an open fire and eat from dishes that are as historically accurate as possible. We sew our own clothes and wear linen and wool. Some of our garments were dyed by us using plant-based dyes.
For some of us, historical reenactment is a vacation; for others, it has become a job and a way of life. In the museum, we talked about textiles and everyday life in the early Middle Ages, taught weaving and needle-binding, and ran a stall where we sold our woven and knitted goods. After museum hours, we had time to explore the village and its surroundings. We also had the chance to try new things and learn from others—playing the lyre, making wooden shingles for a Viking house roof, leading archery and combat activities for children, or carving wooden objects.
It was all worth it!
The Viking Museum in Ribe
In addition to the open-air museum, we visited Museet Ribes Vikinger, the Viking Museum in the center of modern-day Ribe. It is a relatively small institution, but the exhibition brings to life the everyday experiences of Ribe, which was the largest trading city in Scandinavia at the time. Visitors can learn about the lives and deaths of ordinary people and their faith in the old gods.
The exhibition showcases numerous artifacts excavated in Ribe and tells stories about how Viking-age craftsmen traded, worked, and created these remarkable objects. What caught our attention the most was the jewelry—especially the turtle brooches and the molds used to cast them—as well as a beautifully preserved, needle-bound woolen glove.
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