– A wing-cut Viking Age Museum. This is what museum director Håkon Glørstad says about the cost cuts UiO and Statsbygg had to present in a new report to the Ministry of Education. The background for the report is that the ministry wants the new museum on Bygdøy to be completed at a price tag of 2.4 billion kroner. As planned, the museum was about to blow up that frame with about one billion kroner. CONCERN: Director of the Cultural History Museum, Håkon Glørstad, is worried that the uncertainty surrounding the Viking Age Museum will go beyond the security of the Viking objects. Photo: Petter Sommer / news In the report, three alternatives are presented, based on the original concept. The cheapest of them exceed the budget by more than 600 million kroner. – One risks being left with a very reduced museum building without having succeeded with savings, says Glørstad. The Viking Age Museum on Bygdøy Today’s Viking Ship House was designed by architect Arnstein Arneberg after a competition in 1913. The wing for the Oseberg ship was completed in 1926, and the ship was moved there from the University Garden. The wings of the Gokstad and Tuna ships were completed in 1931. The last wing with the grave finds from Oseberg was completed in 1957. In 1995, the idea was first launched to build a new Cultural History Museum in Bjørvika with the Viking ships as the main attraction. The debate about whether the ships and the other objects on Bygdøy would withstand a move raged for 17 years. In 2012, an international expert committee concluded that the ships and objects are too fragile to be moved. The then Minister of Education Kristin Halvorsen stated that the discussion about a possible move was definitely over. In 2013, the government made a concept choice for the Cultural History Museum, which involved a shared solution with the Viking ships and the Viking Age collection on Bygdøy, the rest of the museum on Tullinløkka and magazine premises on Økern. The Ministry of Education and Research commissioned Statsbygg to design an extension and new building for the Viking Age Museum on Bygdøy. AART architects from Denmark won the architectural competition for the museum with the contribution Naust. Source: Statsbygg / news. The report concludes that the project’s goal is to secure the irreplaceable cultural-historical objects for posterity. – It is unrealistic with drastic cost reductions in the current project, says Glørstad. A fourth alternative that is presented in the report can be implemented within budget, but involves a completely new concept and increases the risk for the Viking collection’s security. This is because the alternative will delay the new museum by three to five years. This is in conflict with an international expert group’s strong recommendation. In 2012, they pointed to an immediate need to secure Viking ships better than was the case in the then Viking Ship House.
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– Billion cuts will go beyond the Viking objects – news Culture and entertainment
