Which Viking Ship Museum Is Closed?

Two museums share the name. One is closed. It is the one in Oslo.

Oslo — Closed Since 2021, Reopening November 2027

Norway’s Viking Ship Museum on Bygdøy held the Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune ships — the best-preserved Viking vessels in the world. It closed in 2021 for a complete rebuild and will reopen as the Museum of the Viking Age in November 2027. The ships were moved as part of the works.

This is a long closure for a headline attraction, and a great many people still plan Oslo trips around a museum that has not been open for years.

Roskilde — Open

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, on the fjord at Roskilde, is open. It holds five original ships scuttled around 1070 near Skuldelev and raised in 1962, plus a working boatyard and a sailing fleet. Entry from $31.

Different country, different ships, different museum. If your plan involves Denmark, nothing is closed.

Why the Confusion Is So Persistent

Both institutions are commonly called “the Viking Ship Museum” in English. Search engines merge the two, so Oslo’s closure notices surface against Roskilde queries and vice versa. It is the single most common question we see on this subject, and it is worth checking which city a page is talking about before you conclude anything.

What to Do Before 2027

• Going to Denmark? Roskilde is open and has original ships.
• Going to Norway before November 2027? The ships are not on display. Plan Oslo around something else.
• Going to Sweden? Stockholm’s Viking Museum on Djurgården is an interpreted exhibition rather than a ship collection — vikingmuseumstockholm.com is an independent guide to what that visit involves.
• Want to sail one? Only Roskilde, and only between May and September.

See Roskilde tickets →