Full-Scale Cardboard Viking Ship Launched

By ThorNews on July 23, 2015 • ( 2 )

This Viking ship is probably not as scary as the original… (Photo: Olavsfestivalen/ Thomas Foto)

Last Sunday, the world’s largest cardboard Viking ship was launched during the Olavsfestivalen in Sarpsborg, Eastern Norway. The ship, a full-scale model of the Tune Viking ship, is 19.69 meters (64.7 ft) long and 4.45 meters (14.7 ft) wide.

Øistein Kristiansen, the initiator, has built the ship along with about 20 other volunteers.

– It has been a fun and hectic experience, he says to NRK.

He explains that the shape and construction has been complex and that it has been demanding to complete on time.

– We have built everything in three days. However, on Saturday rain and wind tore almost everything apart, he says.

The boat builders gathered all the bits and pieces and were able to finish the ship on Sunday. Despite the weather, Øistein says it has been fun.

The Tune Ship

The Tune ship is the third best preserved dating back to the Viking Age, built around 900 AD. It was found in a burial mound at Haugen farm on the Rolvsøy island in Fredrikstad municipality. The ship is clinker-built and mainly consists of oak.

The ship is fragmentary and had 11 or 12 pairs of oars, was 64.7 feet long and 14.7 feet wide.

Today it is on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

Text by: Thor Lanesskog ThorNews

Sources: NRK, Olavsfestivalen