UK2018 Trip - Jorvik
Dec. 14th, 2018 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johncomicPart of today's adventure was seeing the Viking museum Jorvik. I have always dug Viking stuff so I looked forward to this, although I was the only one who did, and the only one who went.
As museums go, it's small -- it focuses only on items which have turned up in the archeological dig at this particular corner of York, therefore unusually site-specific as museums go. The place is kept very dim, in part to prevent bright light from degrading the old items, in part to convey the dimness of life in these apparently windowless structures. And flash photography is not allowed, so if you find it hard to see the items in my pics, my apologies. These are the pics where I believe you can sorta make out something -- between the dimness and the fact that most of them were taken on the move (much of the experience involves being escorted on a moving bench through a large diorama with animatronics, reproducing aspects of Viking life in the area), very few of my pics were even remotely seeable. It is a very mundane experience - nothing about raids and pillage and exploring, much about crafting and using household items and the local marketplace.
The first step is an exhibit which displays (behind glass) a section of wooden wall that was apparently a piece of Viking cellar, and one of few actual surviving structures:
Beneath a glass floor are reproductions of building foundations which were discovered here:
I gotta confess, I found the glass floor strangely off-putting and was happy to get off of it.
Then comes the amusement park ride part, where they put you on a bench, put a metal bar across your lap, and glide you through the simulated village. You are first greeted by a longbowman with a dog:
Some of the other sights which I am sorta able to show you are a blacksmith's:
a woodworker's:
part of the market:
a cobbler:
a domestic cellar:
and a domestic scene:
After the ride is a larger exhibit displaying various aspects of Viking craftsmanship [plus a few skeletons]. Again, there was much more here but my pics of those didn't turn out even a little. I had really wanted to see at least one sword, and I did:
but there were also household fittings:
a lock and key -- I hadn't realized that they knew how to make those back then, actually:
I dug this big iron pot:
Here's a partial sock:
And how to make one -- I figure I have some fiber arts friends who might like to know this!
Coins and jewelry:
And near the exit, a cross which I am pretty sure is only a replica, but I dug the design on it:
And that's pretty much it. I spent about forty minutes total -- some say that that isn't worth the £11 admission, but I was okay with that this one time. A relatively modest experience, but thought-provoking and I'm glad I went.
As museums go, it's small -- it focuses only on items which have turned up in the archeological dig at this particular corner of York, therefore unusually site-specific as museums go. The place is kept very dim, in part to prevent bright light from degrading the old items, in part to convey the dimness of life in these apparently windowless structures. And flash photography is not allowed, so if you find it hard to see the items in my pics, my apologies. These are the pics where I believe you can sorta make out something -- between the dimness and the fact that most of them were taken on the move (much of the experience involves being escorted on a moving bench through a large diorama with animatronics, reproducing aspects of Viking life in the area), very few of my pics were even remotely seeable. It is a very mundane experience - nothing about raids and pillage and exploring, much about crafting and using household items and the local marketplace.
The first step is an exhibit which displays (behind glass) a section of wooden wall that was apparently a piece of Viking cellar, and one of few actual surviving structures:
Beneath a glass floor are reproductions of building foundations which were discovered here:
I gotta confess, I found the glass floor strangely off-putting and was happy to get off of it.
Then comes the amusement park ride part, where they put you on a bench, put a metal bar across your lap, and glide you through the simulated village. You are first greeted by a longbowman with a dog:
Some of the other sights which I am sorta able to show you are a blacksmith's:
a woodworker's:
part of the market:
a cobbler:
a domestic cellar:
and a domestic scene:
After the ride is a larger exhibit displaying various aspects of Viking craftsmanship [plus a few skeletons]. Again, there was much more here but my pics of those didn't turn out even a little. I had really wanted to see at least one sword, and I did:
but there were also household fittings:
a lock and key -- I hadn't realized that they knew how to make those back then, actually:
I dug this big iron pot:
Here's a partial sock:
And how to make one -- I figure I have some fiber arts friends who might like to know this!
Coins and jewelry:
And near the exit, a cross which I am pretty sure is only a replica, but I dug the design on it:
And that's pretty much it. I spent about forty minutes total -- some say that that isn't worth the £11 admission, but I was okay with that this one time. A relatively modest experience, but thought-provoking and I'm glad I went.
