Mystic Seaport Museum Hosts Rare Viking Exhibits through September

Two new exhibits at the Mystic Seaport Museum provide visitors with a rare opportunity to explore the history of the Vikings and artifacts that some believe is evidence their ancestors landed in New England decades before Christopher Columbus now through September 30, 2018.

The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden, is a display of one of the world’s finest early Viking-age collections that have never before been seen in the United States; and  Science, Myth & Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga tells the story of a controversial parchment map that created a firestorm in 1965.

AARP members can save money and support Connecticut’s nonprofit educational and cultural venues throughout the year, including Mystic Seaport Museum where they can enjoy $3 off admission (up to 4 per visit) and save 15% off gift memberships for their friends and family. More information about Mystic Seaport Museum is available at www.mysticseaport.org and additional locations AARP members can save money at www.aarp.org/CTDiscounts.

The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden
The Vikings Begin: Treasures from Uppsala University, Sweden, brings artifacts from one of the world’s finest early Viking-age collections outside of their home in Sweden for the first time. Mystic Seaport Museum is the first stop on a U.S. tour for  The Vikings Begin.

Priceless treasures, including helmets, shields, weapons, glass, and other artifacts dating as early as the 7th century, are included in this collection from Gustavianum, Uppsala University Museum in Sweden, Scandinavia’s oldest university.

Thematic sections on Viking warfare, trade, the Baltic Sea, a ship burial, Norse gods, and relations to other cultures will employ rare archaeological finds in the discovery of how this maritime society lived more than a millennium ago. This exhibition represents the first instance most of these artifacts will have ever left Sweden.

Science, Myth & Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga
Science, Myth & Mystery: The Vinland Map Saga explores the stories around and behind the publication in 1965 of a scholarly examination of a piece of parchment known as the Vinland Map. Publication of the Vinland Map threw into question the long-held belief that Christopher Columbus was the first European to reach American shores, in 1492. The map was dated by Yale researchers to about 1440, igniting a firestorm of debate about the moment of first contact —could it be that Vikings from Scandinavia reached North American shores as early as the year 1000?

Science, Myth & Mystery brings the Vinland Map itself to public view for the first time in the United States outside of New Haven in more than 50 years. The exhibition will place the visitor into the moment in time in October of 1965 when the map was first unveiled. It brings to life the fascinating journey of the map from its initial discovery in 1957 to its acquisition by Yale in 1965; the research conducted by a team of hand-picked specialists to authenticate the map; and the hoopla surrounding the unveiling on October 11, 1965 (the day between Leif Ericson Day and Columbus Day).