Thursday July 7, 5-7pm

Good Templar Park

528 East Side Drive, Geneva

Ppfv Member Exclusive

1893 Viking Ship Behind-the-Scenes Tour

Join us for a private, members-only tour of this replica of the Gokstad. It was constructed in Norway and sailed to Chicago 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

Meet the current crew preserving the Viking Ship and learn about preservation concerns and future plans for this historic treasure.

Find out more about the history from the Friends of the Viking Ship.

Registration for this event is not required.

The Viking was built at Christen Christensen’s Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892-93. It was copied after the ancient Viking ship Gokstad. Excavated in 1880, the Gokstad had been called the most beautiful ship ever built.

The Viking is approximately 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 6.5 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale. Clinker built, its planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets. At sea, the Viking averaged 10 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves.

In 1893 the Viking sailed from Norway to Chicago, via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes, and became one of the greatest attractions at the World’s Columbian Exposition.