The Faroe Islands Vikingship

The Faroe Islands were colonized by vikings more than a thousand years ago, sailing from Norway and Denmark, using vikingships to cross the the North Sea and the North Atlantic. These journeys led them all the way to Greenland and then North America.

To keep these far-flung lands connected to mainland Scandinavia, sailing was crucial. Strong ships where imperative for maintaining the link to the outside world, and in the Faroe Islands, for essential connection between the islands themselves.

Since Vikings times, seafaring and boat building have been an essential parts of the Faroe Islands, evolving into a unique boat building tradition, and played a central role in Faroese culture, which includes rowing as the national sport.

This is why we think it is important to have a viking ship and a boat-house; to help preserve the traditions of boat-building from viking age and of subsequent Faroese boat-building, and to honor our seafaring and boat-building traditions.

We are building the Vikingship to have a living symbol of ancient and modern, seafaring and boat-building traditions and as symbol of Faroese heritage and culture.

The Faroe Islands have many historic remnants and traces from the Viking Age, dotted throughout the landscape in place names, ruins and legends. The most important written sources we have, are the Icelandic Sagas and the story called Færeyjnga Saga, the Faroese Story, by Snorri Sturluson in 12th century. Among the settlements mentioned in the sagas is Hov (Hof), which was the homestead of the chieftain of the southern fiefdom of the Faroe Islands and the religious center of Norse religion on the islands. The name Hov means temple in old norse. A perfect and historically accurate location for the first Faroese viking ship in an age.

The project is managed by the association Víkingaship, its purpose to build and operate a viking ship and boat house for cultural and historic preservation and cultivation. The idea to build a viking ship began as a cooperation between public institutions and cultural associations in Suðuroy. Seen as a development of cooperation in historic preservation in Suðuroy and culutral preservation in the Faroes, altogether.