Jorvik Viking Centre

- Time Warp Experience, Vikings, Trading, Fishing, Norse rule, Museum, Exhibition

Jorvik Viking Centre is a museum and experience about Vikings and Norse rule, created by the York Archaeological Trust in 1984, and named after the Viking name of York - Jórvík. It is situated in the city center, near the Shambles. In the "Time Warp experience" you sit down on a sort of ride, that goes along a track in a large dark room, were fullscale landscapes are built to show the Viking life, with moving and talking mannequins that looks like real people, animals, houses, other structures and objects of the time. Some of the "moving people" are even real actors! All while the history is explained, free to chose a language. There is also a museum part with viking objects, some from pludering, and real skeletons from dead vikings. Under a glass floor in the entrance hall, the original archeological dig is reproduced with actual timbers. A fun anecdote is that the Swedish city of Lund (that is just next to Malmö) was mentioned. The center arrange an annual viking festival in February, and outside there were actors dressed like vikings, playing music and setting up sword fights. The Jorvik Viking Centre was badly damaged by a flooding during Christmas 2015, but reopened 8 April 2017, occasionally the same day as I visited York! The line to get in was very big and they had some problems making the attraction work after that.

York was founded as Eboracum by the Romans, in the country that was then called Britannia. Two Roman empires died in the city. For a time (866-954) York was under Viking rule, then called Jórvík. It was an important river port for the extensive viking trade routes. Especially Danish vikings travelled to York. The name Jórvík later became York.