The Jorvik Viking Centre has always been about bringing the past to life – and these photographs will transport many readers back in time.
To mark its 40th birthday tomorrow (Sunday, 14 April), Jorvik has released an archive of photographs – from the original Coppergate dig to the plans for the unique new attraction to the opening itself in 1984.
Today’s visitors experience the fourth version of Jorvik. The original featured time cars that moved around a smooth, flat track.
Travelling backwards through a ‘time tunnel’ before emerging in the 10th century, visitors pass through a frozen moment of time where they could experience the sights, sounds and – for the first time in a museum, smells – of the era, painstaking recreated based on the archaeology of the site.
“There was a fairly speedy turnaround from archaeological dig to creating a visitor attraction, but just as our understanding of Viking-age York has developed – with new techniques enabling us to examine not only the layout of the streets but also microscopic evidence of flora and fauna – so we know so much more than we did when Jorvik first opened,” said chief executive of York Archaeology, David Jennings.
“This has been reflected in each new version of Jorvik – from the addition of two storey houses in 2001, to tiny details like the moss growing on the thatched roofs.
“This is the best possible interpretation of what the city would have looked like.”
The photographs below show the Coppergate dig in 1981 which uncovered the Viking city, the designs for Jorvik, and the very first version of the museum when it opened in 1984.
Gallery
