Press information 
March 2007

The Vikings of Sealand

In exactly the same way that the Vikings left their traces throughout Europe's history, on a smaller and less aggressive scale they left their mark on the island of Sealand.

Sealand's unique geography, with its two incisive northern fjords effectively acting as maritime motorways from safe harbour to open sea, provided the ideal settling place for the seafaring, warlike and surprisingly business minded race known as the Vikings. In fact, a growing number of scholars have suggested that the very name Viking could derive from vik, meaning an inlet, fjord or bay.

As a visitor to Sealand, Copenhagen is an excellent base for forays into the surrounding towns and cities on a quest for traces of our Danish forbears. You won't have to look far, either. From sausage stand logos to the finest restaurant menu cards, the omnipresent horned helmet symbolises the Danish awareness of their illustrious past as warriors, explorers and empire builders. If only the graphic designers and marketing men responsible had made a trip to the National Museum in central Copenhagen.

There, they would have discovered that the Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets - rather an elongated nose protector which doesn’t have quite such a romantic ring to it. The recently modernised museum houses permanent national collections of Viking treasure troves - including silver decorations plundered from as far away as Russia and grave finds from Denmark. The Vikings' often overlooked talent for monumental architecture has an exhibition room to itself as has the impressive collection of the their characteristic rune stones. In the museum gift shop it's possible to buy replicas of the more famous pieces of Viking jewellery in both precious and non precious metals.

If it's the real thing you're after, then a trip out of Copenhagen to Sealand's other prime Viking sites, Roskilde and Frederiksund, is made easy with a Copenhagen Card which gives you unlimited travel on both bus and train. Alternatively, car rental for a day will give you the freedom to explore some of the more off the beaten track delights of the fjordland countryside, with its countless Neolithic barrows and Viking age ship tumuli, not to mention some of Denmark's most picturesque Kro or inns.

Half an hour from Copenhagen lies Roskilde. A city of both kings and Vikings, the cathedral is the final resting place of no less than 38 Danish monarchs. It was the easy access to the natural harbour at the end of the fjord which led the Vikings to establish a 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 purpose built Viking Ship Museum. On the new museum island there are workshops and conservation projects, ongoing reconstructions of Viking ships and the possibility of going sailing on the fjord in a copy of an original Viking longboat.

One of the Skuldelev ships was originally thought to be two ships because of its incredible length. It was a warship, 30 meters long and originally had a crew of about 60 warriors. It has been ascertained that the ship was built of wood felled in the surroundings of Dublin in 1042. Now this vessel has been reconstructed and given the name The Sea Stallion from Glendalough. Representing the awe-inspiring level of Viking technology, she is one of the ocean-going longships whose praise is sung in sagas and skaldic verse.

Plans are that the The Sea Stallion from Glendalough will sail across the North Sea to Dublin on 1 July 2007 returning to Roskilde in 2008. The voyage will mark the pinnacle of the most ambitious ship archaeology research project ever undertaken.

To reach Frederiksund from Roskilde in a particularly Viking style, you can sail with the ferry, Harald Blåtand along the original Viking route, passing along the way the old navigation channel at Skudelev, where the ships displayed in the museum were found. They had been deliberately scuppered in the channel to prevent strangers from reaching Roskilde. From Copenhagen, it's possible to take a single S-train from the Main Station to Frederiksund’s centrally placed terminus.

Frederiksund annually hosts The Viking Plays a tradition since 1952. The season runs through midsummer from mid June to early July, with an elaborately staged episode from the Viking Sagas, complete with full scale burning longboats and a cast of over 150 amateurs. If you book in advance you can get a guided tour of the nearby Viking Settlement followed by a feast of Viking proportions - complete with foaming beer and flame-grilled meat - to get you in the mood for the evenings festivities. The plays themselves are performed in the open-air amphitheatre on the outskirts of the Viking Settlement. Here you can find authentic copies of five pit houses, a plank road and jetty and the latest addition, a Viking Long house. Lively in summer, the town itself is an archetypal Danish balance between the old and new, with pedestrian streets and pavement cafes and bodegas. If you've rented a car, the drive from Roskilde to Frederiksund takes you through some of the most beautiful landscapes that Sealand has to offer in the fjordland of Hornsherred, with its idyllic preserved villages complete with common and pond, gently rolling hills and hidden coves and bays.

The Viking Incentive
With the recently introduced Copenhagen Conference and Incentive package, it couldn't be easier to put together a combined business and incentive trip to the land of the Vikings. The Conference package offers a combined price that includes a conference in Copenhagen and air travel to and from the city. For conference planners, the process has been streamlined, so that you only have to contact one place to organise your trip. Hotel reservations, ground services and special events are all taken care of.

Increasingly popular is to combine a conference with an incentive break, and again, it couldn't be easier. One call to Copenhagen Incentives and numerous quality suggestions for a structured break are forthcoming.

A two day Viking break, perhaps, featuring a specially organised Longboat excursion along the fjords, Viking battle training in full period costume (followed by a feast of grilled ribs) can be neatly dove-tailed with a trip out to Frederiksundís Viking plays to give a relaxing - or team-building end to a conference period.

Copenhagen Incentives are experts in co-ordinating quality tailor made incentive breaks to suit specific client's needs and requirements, and can be a valuable partner right from the planning stage.

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