The National Museum

No horns on a real Viking

Copenhagen is an excellent base for forays into the surrounding towns and cities on a quest for traces of our Danish forbearers. You won't have to look far, either. From sausage stand logos to the finest restaurant menu cards, the omnipresent horned helmet symbolises the Danish awareness of their illustrious past as warriors, explorers and empire builders. If only the graphic designers and marketing men responsible had made a trip to the National Museum in central Copenhagen.

Horns and rune stones 

There, they would have discovered that the Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets - rather an elongated nose protector which doesn't have quite such a romantic ring to it. The recently modernised museum houses permanent national collections of Viking treasure troves - including silver decorations plundered from as far away as Russia and grave finds from Denmark.

The Vikings' often overlooked talent for monumental architecture has an exhibition room to itself as has the impressive collection of their characteristic rune stones. In the museum gift shop it's possible to buy replicas of the more famous pieces of Viking jewellery in both precious and non precious metals.

The National Museum
10, Ny Vestergade
Tel: +45 3313 4411