Twilight of the Vikings.
Turning Point in the North

The exhibition »Twilight of the Vikings. Turning Point in the North« in the old riding hall at Gottorf Castle near Schleswig focuses on the end of the Viking Age and its transition into the Middle Ages. Schleswig and the nearby former Viking town of Haithabu play key roles in this process. The aim of the exhibition is to show that the Viking culture did not come to an abrupt end but was absorbed into the Christian culture of the Middle Ages and continued to indirectly influence the course of history – right up to the present day. In close cooperation with the museum's scientific and curatorial team, we have designed an exhibition that is educational and entertaining for both the public and specialists. Through the topics of power, economy and religion, we decipher the differences and similarities between the culture of the Vikings and our own.

The scenography of the exhibition is a spatial sequence of thematic areas that are each related to the present. The appearance of the exhibition is derived from the historical imagery and colour palette of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a 70m-long textile document of the time that tells of the events in pictorial form and can be seen here as a true-to-scale reproduction. The colour palette also serves to segment the thematic areas. This makes it possible to divide the open space into clearly distinguishable but coherent areas without having to add new walls. When looking into the exhibition space overall, it can thus be perceived as a whole, even with the segmentation of the thematic areas and the diversity of exhibits.

As a spatial and content-related bracket, large maps on the two short sides of the rectangular riding hall show the historical changes between 1066 (destruction of Haithabu) and 1200 (Schleswig’s receival of the city status). Viewed from the gallery, the maps appear in one view with the Bayeux Tapestry, so that these elements reinforce each other. Groups of figures drawn by us are present in the themed areas as large-format scenes illustrating the world of the Vikings. Projected onto the walls, they are digitally animated and accompanied by sound, which brings them to life and lifts them out of the rigidity of the past.

At 53,000 visitors, Gottorf Castle sets a record in visitor numbers with »Twilight of the Vikings. Turning Point in the North«. As many people as never before at Gottorf Castle have seen this special exhibition.