Is that a real sword? Do you guys live here? Are you a real Viking? Visitors at a Viking Museum in Denmark have many questions. Their interest is enormous when coming face to face with ‘the old world’ they only know from Danish history books. Jakob and his colleague Johan share their experiences of working at a more than 1000-year old UNESCO-site, acting as a viking several days a week. Here’s their story!

The Tale of Two Vikings

The First Viking: Jakob

Entering a Mystical Place

Just around a hundred kilometers west of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, an earthly fort lies majestically a few clicks from the highway. In front of it stands a huge replica of a Viking Longhouse dating back almost a decade. A fascinating structure once scattered all over the country.

Mostly inhabited today by sheep and museumgoers as well as tour guides, the grassy ramparts of the ancient structure tell a story of a time long ago when wooden fortifications were built in several places throughout the country. One can still sense the sheer size of the place once you stand in the middle of the structure. Here concrete markings around you mark the spots where the great wooden longhouses once stood. Trotting up the grassy rampart, the visitor to this once great fortress can witness a wide, astonishing and nowadays mostly rural landscape.

The Ring Fortress

The fortress is called Trelleborg, a Viking ring-fortress. I personally always feel amazed when I remember that I’m working at a more than 1000-year-old workplace. To walk and talk around all the remnants of the past and to feel the immense winds of change through history is truly what makes me love to work as a Viking at Trelleborg. I’m a historian and working with history is a passion and it can be a real joy! Especially when I’m working in such an inspiring environment. I particularly find it riveting to experience the place late in the evening during the summer. There’s just something…magical about it!

This ring-fortress along with four others was built more than 1000 years ago by the Danish king Harold Bluetooth. This ancient fortress is a still standing evidence of the vast building projects undertaken by the king in his reign. It is a physical reminder of the vast impact the past can have on our present. How the past is ever-present through great structures and the many stories of which they hold. The amazing structure shows how a king could unify and defend his kingdom, but especially shows how the Vikings could defend themselves and the ways in which they would fight and live. It is a part of the history of the old Kingdom of Denmark, and it has an impact on why the country now looks the way it does along with the shaping of its history filled with fascinating stories of old.

Viking Fortress Goes UNESCO

In 2023 something wondrous happened: The five Viking ring fortresses in Denmark – including Trelleborg – became part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. This is a huge deal for the preservation of the Viking heritage and a great emphasizer on how important it is to continuously tell the stories of the Vikings, the world they lived in, their many legends and adventures and their everyday lives. This has also been a part of the museum at Trelleborg’s agenda for quite some time.

The Viking Vibe

A living storytelling is one of the key elements in the strategy of the museum, a way for the visitors to learn about and experience the past in a special way. This being through storytelling from guided tours or more hands-on experiences through various activities. Activities and events are orchestrated at the museum all through the season where children and adults alike can feel the past coming to life and try to imagine what it’s like to be a real Viking. Many of the employees of the museum are of course mostly dressed in authentic Viking clothing as well as a lot of volunteer enthusiasts who just love period.

The guests can fight with rubber swords and shields (although mostly done by kids) which is definitely one of my favorite activities to do with the guests. I’ll instruct them in fighting like proper Vikings and they will then all attack each other on the ‘battlefield’. Truly one of my favorites apart of course from doing the guided tours and showering the guests with all the knowledge I have acquired about the period and the fortress along with great storytelling about ancient kings and the ways of the Vikings.

Living Storytelling

Telling these stories is just as important to get a glimpse or and understanding of how the world once was and what we can learn from the past adventures of an ancient people. Stories such as the death of Harold Bluetooth or the raid on Lindisfarne or even the story of Ragnarök, they always seem to captivate the audience. Working as a Viking, I meet a lot of myths and premade opinions on what the Viking Age is about and who the Vikings were. Now, I kind of like to debunk a lot of myths about the Vikings and see the reactions on people’s faces when I tell them how things really were back then.

However to hear the enthusiasm about the historical era is truly inspiring. People really do love the Viking Age! They love the stories about the Vikings going abroad and pillaging, fighting, trading with the rest of Europe. They are fascinated with the ways in which the great warriors on the battlefield stand out and how the Nordics have their own special place in history with these historical people living in their ways. Norse mythology is a big part of the idea of the Viking Age and our museum has a great emphasis on all the fascinating stories from mythology along with the historical facts and tales of the Vikings.

Occupation? Viking!

I must say it is somewhat of a special thing to walk around in Viking clothes presenting the past to visitors from afar. When I started working as a Viking, I quickly became comfortable in my “new” set of clothes and now I slip into them without a thought. They tend to give me an extra historical boost with a linen shirt, woolen shirt, woolen pants, a knife and a small pouch. And even sometimes, if I want to impress the groups visiting the museum I will strap on a replica of a sword in my belt to look particularly proud and Viking-like. The groups gather around to hear a young Viking looking guy telling stories of the Vikings and it seems like a treat for kids to run around on a field fighting with rubber swords and shields.

It is always a fun thing to talk about my job; I work as a Viking! People are often amused by the idea of me walking around as a Viking all day, but just as much I hear the phrase: That sounds like a great job. Another thing I’ve noticed about my job though is weekdays and weekends many times blend. That’s what it’s like working at a museum, I guess. Is it Wednesday or is it Saturday? Of course, no two days are alike, but it can’t be said to be a 9-5 job only on the weekdays. A Viking most certainly works in the holidays! Nevertheless, it is a great job, and I always feel the rush of adrenaline when standing in front of all the guests, telling the old stories about the Vikings inside of the old wooden longhouse. Even for me, the fortress hasn’t lost any fascination so far.

The Second Viking: Johan

I’ve also asked one of my very skilled colleagues to share his thoughts on what it’s like to work as a Viking. Johan is a few years younger than me and truly is a great storyteller, and a true Viking!

Storyteller All Day Long

For Johan it is quite a weird, but also a funny thing to work as a storyteller and be dressed as an authentic Viking: “It’s a vastly different experience from other ways of storytelling and tours around museums and historical places”. But he likes it, as it gives a very realistic vibe to it. “Sometimes I feel like becoming one with history and pretend that you were alive together with the Viking, one thousand years ago.”

In Johans perspective being dressed as a Viking is not just for a fun gimmick; “It is a good way of expressing the history to the audience, as it becomes a part of the interaction with the visitors,  as it keeps the guests interested and also makes it a talking point for further discussion or questions. It is very common that on a rainy day, the visitors would ask me if the Viking shoes were dry. And on a sunny day they would ask if my cotton clothes were warm.  Both answers are: yes. But that is part of the unique experience, that the clothes play an important role in how we portray history and how we tell the story of the fortress and the Vikings at Trelleborg.”

Truly Inspiring

Obviously, it is not just about the clothes, it’s the essence of taking on the role as a real Viking storyteller.  “That’s what I like about it, that you get to be a part of the story and a part of the guests’ experience. It’s about making their day, and it’s a very good feeling, that you can see people getting happy, as they meet a real Viking. It’s great to see the children’s eyes sparkle, to tease them that you’re indeed a real Viking from 1000 years ago.”