Take a guided tour of Viking ship Saturday
The life-size replica Viking ship, called the Viking, will host tours Saturday, Aug. 19, at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive in Geneva. Guided and self-guided tours will be offered from 1 to 4 p.m. The public is invited.
Admission is $5 or $3 for teens. Parking is free.
Thirty-minute guided tours begin every 30 minutes. The last guided tour is at 3:30 p.m. Future visit days are Sept. 16, Oct. 21, and Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The vessel is about 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 6.5 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale.
Its black oak planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets.
At sea, the Viking averaged 10 knots and the hull was designed to flex with the waves.
The boat is an exact copy of the Viking ship Gokstad, built about 850. A Gokstad replica, the Viking, was sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Bergen, Norway, to Chicago for the 1893 Columbian Exposition World's Fair.
After being exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the Viking was displayed in West Chicago before being moved to its current location in 1996.
For more information, call (630) 753-9412, email viking1893@gmail.com or visit vikingship.us.