I tended to think of Vikings as not too far off the people who designed Stonehenge, likely having very little in terms of art. However, the exhibit did a great job showing off this aspect of Vikings' culture with intricately designed brooches and items from hoards, like the one from Hiddensee, Germany, shown below. Laid out elegantly, it was one of the most impressively intricate of sets of objects in the exhibit.
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/06/article-2574607-1C07DCF600000578-886_634x460.jpg)
The exhibit also did a great job giving more detail about some things a common person might already know about the Vikings if only vaguely. It showed their reliance on boats and the sea for transportation as well as culture, with little toy/model boats as well as the humongous boat in the last room (more on that later). This aspect of Viking culture was beautifully accented by nice sounds of the ocean over the speaker system, as well as a conversation in Norse language. It would've been nice to have been given some follow-up information on what the conversation was about, but the choice was still very humanizing right from the start.
Everyone knows that Vikings were really into their weapons, and there were many on display. One might not have known, however, that Vikings went to great trouble to decorate their weapons, making them beautiful, like this axe-head below. Indeed, weapons were very important not just for fighting but as status symbols, too.
(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Columnist/Columnists/2014/3/7/1394219952974/viking-Silver-inlaid-axeh-008.jpg)
Some of my favorite parts of the exhibit were explorations of Vikings' daily life. There were cool combs made out of bones, cups and horns for drinking, and a feasting bucket as well as a board game called hnefatafl that slightly resembled chess. It would've been nice, however, to see more in terms of clothes and a general sense of what these people looked like--something the Natural History Museum did a great job of with their exhibit on ancient human life in the UK.
There were moments of curatorial brilliance in the exhibit. For example, some hoards were placed alongside weapons and warrior items, bringing to light how war was often necessary in collecting beautiful items from other peoples.
However, there were also very confusing moments. For example, one hallway exhibited items related to horses, like spurs and stirrups, totally out of the blue, while water sounds played over the speakers in that hallway. (Even more strangely, water sounds did NOT play in the room with the huge boat.) The horse items would later return more sensibly alongside information on weapons and battle--horses were important in war.
The 37-meter long ship known as Roskilde 6, the longest Viking warship ever found, was hyped as one of the most exciting aspects of the museum, but it was a complete dud. Bits and pieces of it were displayed around the room, but only the frame was exhibited intact. Also, placed around it were many other interesting but unrelated Viking items that seemed like afterthoughts. These were just interesting enough to draw attention away from the ship without being especially memorable for themselves. Especially random was a huge Viking rune stone that looked like nothing else in the exhibit.
Informative, illuminating, and eye-pleasing with beautiful objects that told a different side of Vikings from that which one tends to imagine, the exhibit nonetheless could've been organized far better to give a viewer a clearer sense of the Viking world.
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