Sagastad - the Myklebust ship

The large Norwegian ship burials from the Viking Age are unique to Norway. The Myklebust ship from Nordfjordeid is the largest Viking ship whose remains have been found in Norway. It had an estimated length of 30 metres. Sagastad opened in May 2019, and is a combined knowledge and activity centre located beside the fjord in the centre of Nordfjordeid. A central part of the exhibition in Sagastad is the Myklebust ship, the largest Viking ship whose remains have been found in Norway. A full-scale replica of the ship has been built – 30 metres long and 6.5 metres wide. The ship is seaworthy and able to sail on the fjord, but it will be exhibited for large parts of the year at Sagastad, where it is one of the main attractions. 

The Myklebust ship

The burial mound, which is locally known as ‘Rundehåjen’ on the farm Myklebust in Nordfjordeid, was excavated in 1874, and the Myklebust ship was found several years before Gokstad (1880) and Oseberg (1904).

The Myklebust ship differs from the Oseberg and Gokstad ships in that it was burnt at the funeral. The custom of burning the ship at funerals was typical of Western Norway in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Myklebust ship is both the last and the largest ship to have been burnt at a funeral during the Viking Age.

We know the dimensions of the Myklebust ship because of the bed of ashes in the burial mound, the number of treenails (clinch nails) and the number of shield bosses that were found in the burial mound. The burial mound in itself is 30 metres in diameter and four metres high, with a wide trench around it (it was filled in in the 19th century). In autumn 2016, experienced boat builders from Bjørkedalen in Volda started to build the new Myklebust ship modelled on what we think it may have looked like.

There is reason to believe that King Audbjørn of the Fjords was cremated in the Myklebust ship. He is mentioned in Snorri’s saga about Harald Fairhair who fell in the battle of Solskjel in Nordmøre in the year 876. This fits well with the estimated age of the findings in the burial mound.

With the launch of the Myklebust ship, we are again able to sail on the Nordfjord in Norway’s most magnificent Viking ship for the first time since King Audbjørn and his men over 1,150 years ago.

Read more about Sagastad and the Myklebust ship, see the opening times and prices.