The origin of the Viking Ship
Museum appears to date back to 1913 when
Gabriel Gustafson proposed that a building be
designed to accommodate the 19th and early
20th Century viking finds that include the
Gokstad and Oseberg ships. Arnstein
Arneberg won the competition that was held for
such a building and by 1926 the first part of
the building designed to accommodate the
Oseberg ship was completed.
The halls for the ships from Gokstad and
Tune were completed in 1932.
A fourth hall, that houses artifacts, was
finished after the war in 1957.
In recent years there
has been a debate about the future of the
museum. Concerns about fire safety
and lack of space for such a popular
museum led to the suggestion that the
ships should be moved into a new
building. However, concerns over the
fragility of the ships raised questions as
to whether they would survive a
move. In 2015 it was announced that
the existing museum building would be
extended and after a competition the
Danish architects AART were commissioned
to design the extension.
