![]() | |
![]() | |
Established | 1984 |
---|---|
Location | York, England |
Coordinates | 53°57′26.9″N1°04′49.1″W / 53.957472°N 1.080306°W |
Website | www |
The Jorvik Viking Centre is a museum and visitor attraction in York, England, containing lifelike mannequins and life-size dioramas depicting Viking life in the city. Visitors are taken through the dioramas in small carriages equipped with speakers. It was created by the York Archaeological Trust and opened in 1984. Its name is derived from Jórvík , the Old Norse name for York and the surrounding Viking Kingdom of Yorkshire.
In the 1850s, confectioner Thomas Craven acquired a site in Coppergate. When he died in 1862 his widow Mary Ann Craven continued the business and a century later, in 1966, Cravens relocated to a new factory on the outskirts of the city. [1] Between 1976 and 1981, after the old factory was demolished, and prior to the building of the Coppergate Shopping Centre (an open-air pedestrian shopping centre which now occupies the enlarged site), the York Archaeological Trust, a charity founded in 1972 by Peter Addyman, conducted extensive excavations in the area. Well-preserved remains of some of the timber buildings of the Viking city of Jorvík were discovered, along with workshops, fences, animal pens, privies, pits and wells, together with durable materials and artefacts of the time, such as pottery, metalwork and bones. Unusually, wood, leather, textiles, and plant and animal remains from the period around 900 AD, were also discovered to be preserved in oxygen-deprived wet clay. In all, over 40,000 objects were recovered.
The trust recreated the excavated part of Jorvik on the site, peopled with figures, sounds and smells, as well as pigsties, fish market and latrines, with a view to bringing the Viking city fully to life using innovative interpretative methods. The Jorvik Viking Centre was designed by John Sunderland[ citation needed ] and opened in April 1984. [2]
In 2001, the centre was refurbished and enlarged at a cost of £5 million, and a further investment of £1 million followed in February 2010. [3] These investments were used to "intensify the message" at Jorvik, and included such changes as extending the ride time to 12 minutes, as well as adding more high-tech elements, which included a hike in "the technology and animation elements," and increasing "the sensory stimuli to include smells, more sounds, heat, cold and damp." [4] Visitors were taken back to 5:30 pm 25 October 975 AD in a time-capsule, and then embarked on a tour of a reconstructed Viking settlement which includes voices speaking in Old Norse [ clarification needed ], as well as aromas and "life-like animated figures, made by laser technology from skeletons found on the site." [5]
The third incarnation of Jorvik was opened in February 2010, coinciding with the start of the annual Viking Festival in York.
The centre was significantly affected by the flooding in Northern England in December 2015, with extensive water damage to the building and exhibits. The most valuable Viking artefacts were moved to prevent damage. [6] The museum reopened in April 2017. [7] The timeline was moved, so visitors now experience a September day in 960AD, and the ride slowed down, extending the ride time to 16 minutes.
By October 2022, the centre had received 20 million visitors. [2]
Beyond the settlement tour is an extensive museum area, which combines an exhibition of some 800 finds from the site with interactive displays and the opportunity to learn about tenth-century life and to discuss it with "Viking" staff. Among the exhibits is a replica of the Coppergate Helmet, which was found near the site of the centre and is now in the Yorkshire Museum.
Graham Ibbeson created the lifelike mannequins used in the Jorvik experience. At first the faces of these mannequins were modelled from modern day people. However, through advances in facial reconstruction technology, eight new mannequins have now been modelled on skulls found in a Viking age cemetery, although there is no guarantee that the skulls were Norse, and there is the possibility that they were Saxon. [8]
The centre organizes an annual Viking Festival that takes place in the second week of February. [9] The festival is set up in tradition of an ancient Viking festival known as "Jolablot". [10] The festival includes combat re-enactment involving volunteers from all over the world.
The Jorvik Viking Centre has been called "one of Britain's most popular attractions." [11] The BBC spoke of the "Time Warp" experience as "a new art form". [12]
The Jorvik Centre has been criticized as a "pop-up book view of history" [12] and its presentation of the past has been labelled "Disney-like". [11] Anthony Gaynor, one of the creators of the centre, responded in 1989 by stating: "We're making history accessible and enjoyable to the general public. You can't do that if you wrap it in a lot of academic foliage." [11]
Jorvik Viking Centre is not billed as a museum but as an "experience"; this type of educational representation of the past, known as a "Time Warp" experience, has become increasingly popular with the creation of Jorvik. It inspired other such sites as "The Canterbury Tales" where visitors could join Geoffrey Chaucer's pilgrimage. [12]
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss. It is the county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a minster, castle, and city walls. It is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of the wider City of York district.
Scandinavian York or Viking York is a term used by historians for what is now Yorkshire during the period of Scandinavian domination from late 9th century until it was annexed and integrated into England after the Norman Conquest; in particular, it is used to refer to York, the city controlled by these kings and earls. The Kingdom of Jórvíc was closely associated with the much longer-lived Kingdom of Dublin throughout this period.
Yorkshire is a historic county of England, centred on the county town of York. The region was first occupied after the retreat of the ice age around 8000 BC. During the first millennium AD it was inhabited by celtic Britons and occupied by Romans, Angles and Vikings. The name comes from "Eborakon" an old Brythonic name which probably derives from "Efor" or "the place of the yew-trees." Many Yorkshire dialect words and aspects of pronunciation derive from old Norse due to the Viking influence in this region. The name "Yorkshire", first appeared in writing in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1065. It was originally composed of three sections called Thrydings, subsequently referred to as Ridings.
The Richard III Experience at Monk Bar was located in Monk Bar, the tallest of the four gatehouses in the historical city walls of York, England. It described the life of Richard III, the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty.
The Lloyds Bank coprolite is a large coprolite, or fossilised specimen of human faeces, recovered by the York Archaeological Trust while excavating the Viking settlement of Jórvík in northern England.
The York Archaeological Trust for Excavation and Research Limited (YAT) is an educational charity, established in 1972 in the city of York, England, and trading under the York Archaeology brand. The charity presents archaeology to the public through visitor attractions and events, and its commercial arm carries out archaeological investigations, fieldwork, excavation and research in York and throughout Britain and beyond.
The history of York, England, as a city dates to the beginning of the first millennium AD but archaeological evidence for the presence of people in the region of York dates back much further to between 8000 and 7000 BC. As York was a town in Roman times, its Celtic name is recorded in Roman sources ; after 400, Angles took over the area and adapted the name by folk etymology to Old English Eoforwīc or Eoforīc, which means "wild-boar town" or "rich in wild-boar". The Vikings, who took over the area later, in turn adapted the name by folk etymology to Norse Jórvík meaning "wild-boar bay", 'jór' being a contraction of the Old Norse word for wild boar, 'jǫfurr'. The modern Welsh name is Efrog.
The York Museum Gardens are botanic gardens in the centre of York, England, beside the River Ouse. They cover an area of 10 acres (4.0 ha) of the former grounds of St Mary's Abbey, and were created in the 1830s by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society along with the Yorkshire Museum which they contain.
The Coppergate Helmet is an eighth-century Anglo-Saxon helmet found in York, England. It was discovered in May 1982 during excavations for the Jorvik Viking Centre at the bottom of a pit that is thought to have once been a well.
The Vale of York Hoard, also known as the Harrogate Hoard and the Vale of York Viking Hoard, is a 10th-century Viking hoard of 617 silver coins and 65 other items. It was found undisturbed in 2007 near the town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. The hoard was the largest Viking one discovered in Britain since 1840, when the Cuerdale hoard was found in Lancashire, though the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, found in 2009, is larger.
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy.
Coppergate Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in York in North Yorkshire, England. It is named after Coppergate, one of York's medieval streets.
The Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre is an aviation museum located at the Omaka Air Field, 5 km (3 mi) from the centre of Blenheim, New Zealand.
Peter Vincent Addyman,, known as P. V. Addyman, is a British archaeologist who was Director of the York Archaeological Trust from 1972 to 2002. Addyman obtained a degree in archaeology at Cambridge University, after which he lectured at Queen's University Belfast and the University of Southampton, while also conducting excavations. In 1972 he was offered the directorship of the newly founded York Archaeological Trust, the creation of which he had proposed; along with excavation work in York, he oversaw the development of the Jorvik Viking Centre, the Archaeological Resource Centre, and Barley Hall. In 2000 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Coppergate is a street in the city centre of York, in England. The street runs north-east from the junction of Castlegate, Nessgate, King Street and Clifford Street, to end at the junction of Pavement, Piccadilly, Parliament Street, and High Ousegate.
Elizabeth Grayson Hartley, was an American archaeologist and curator. She spent most of her career as the Keeper of Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum in York.
Dominic Tweddle,, is an English archaeologist specialising in Anglo-Saxon studies and the director general of the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Previously he spent time as a research assistant at the British Museum and as the assistant director of the York Archaeological Trust, where he helped develop the Jorvik Viking Centre. He is also an honorary professor at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the University of Portsmouth.
Castlegate is a historic street in York, England, which leads to York Castle.
Pavement is a street in the city centre of York, in England.