ALL good things come to those who wait, they say. Well, this weekend, the waiting will finally be over for those who love Jorvik. The world famous Viking museum, which has been closed since the Boxing Day floods of 2015, will re-open at 10am on Saturday.
It may look quite different to the Jorvik of old. Knowing that they would have to completely strip out the flooded attraction, Jorvik bosses decided to go for a complete refurb and upgrade.
They launched Campaign Canute, which aimed to raise £2million over and above Jorvik’s insurance payout so as to ensure the new-look museum would be better than the old.
It’s that new-look attraction that will open on Saturday. Jorvik bosses have so far been reluctant to reveal too much. But we do know that the time cars will be back; that the Vikings of new Jorvik will be hunters as well as traders; and that a storyteller will tell a very Nordic tale about the end of the world.
That tale is the story of Ragnarok, the great battle which in Viking mythology heralds the end of the old world, and the rebirth of a new one. Last week’s burning of a giant wickerwork effigy of a wolf - a celebration intended to herald the return of Jorvik - symbolised Ragnarok. How fitting that a story about an ending and a rebirth was used to welcome Jorvik back. We can’t wait.
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