The National Maritime Museum is bringing the Vikings to Cornwall in a new major exhibition called Viking Voyagers, opening on March 20, 2015.

The exhibition, featuring nationally and internationally |historically significant artefacts, explores what is behind the |popular myth of the bloodthirsty raiders, what it meant to become a Viking and shows how their |mastery of maritime technology was the secret to their success.

Their power was built on their knowledge of boatbuilding and their seafaring skills, enabling them to sail across the Atlantic’s icy waters to Newfoundland and Iceland, down to the warm Mediterranean to Istanbul and as far East along the river Volga to Ukraine and Russia.

Visions of horned helmets, unkempt beards and fearsome raiding fighters carried by longships that were dragon headed war beasts come to mind when thinking of Vikings. However, this new show dispels the myth and reveals that just like us they also wore jewellery, combed their hair and many were entrepreneurs, using smaller boats and ships to do business and seek new opportunities far from their Scandinavian homelands.

This new show invites you to encounter these Norse voyagers and the people and things they met along the way.

The humanising of the Vikings is conveyed through engaging interactive displays that amplify what life was like as a Viking.

With institutional and loaning partners including the British Museum, National Museum of Ireland, National Museum of Denmark and Manx National Heritage and others, a stunning number of artefacts show a |culture that enjoyed ostentation and hierarchy as well as ritual, religion and the simplicity of |family life.

Richard Doughty, Director of National Maritime Museum Cornwall said: “It is |enormously exciting for the National Maritime Museum Cornwall to be bringing the Vikings to Falmouth and |hosting historically |significant artefacts, in what is undoubtedly our most important exhibition to date.

“This new state of the art show has taken years to develop. You might think you know the Vikings but you will have never |experienced them in the way this new exhibition promises. All I can say is watch out, the Vikings are coming!”

The theatre is provided by a beach market scene. A full scale replica of a 14m coastal cargo Viking ship, from 11th century Denmark, invites you to climb aboard and |discover what it was like to sail and row in these awe inspiring vessels, and explore the wares they carried.

For more information see www.nmmc.co.uk