Geneva Viking ship replica sets 2019 visit days
Geneva's Viking replica longship, called the Viking, has announced its 2019 visit days, including extra days each for June Swedish Days and October Cottages in the Woods festival.
The public is invited. The life-size Viking is housed at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive in Geneva. Parking is free.
Visit days are 1 to 4 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month from April through October. This season's visit days are April 20, May 18, June 22-23, July 20, Aug. 17, Sept. 21 and Oct. 19-20.
Special visit days are June 22-23 in observance of Swedish Days and Oct. 19-20 in observance of Cottages in the Woods festival.
Guided group tours begin every 30 minutes with the last tour at 3:30 p.m. Self-guided viewing is also available.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for teens.
Group tours are available with two weeks advance notice. The fee is $50. Call (630) 674-7530 or email Viking1893@gmail.com.
For more information about visit days, call (630) 753-9412 or email viking1893@gmail.com. To learn more about Friends of the Viking Ship, visit www.vikingship.us or www.facebook.com/Viking1893/.
About the Viking
The Viking is about 78 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 6.5 feet high from the bottom of the keel to the gunwale. Its oak planks are fastened together with thousands of iron rivets. At sea, the Viking averaged 10 knots and the hull was observed to flex with the waves.
The Viking was built at Christen Christensen's Framnes Shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway in 1892-93. It was copied after the ancient Viking ship Gokstad. Excavated in 1880, the Gokstad had been called the most beautiful ship ever built.
In 1893, the Viking sailed from Norway to Chicago, via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes, and became one of the greatest attractions at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago World's Fair.
At the close of the Fair the Viking traveled to New Orleans. The next year she was returned to Chicago and presented to the Field Columbian Museum. Soon the Viking was in dry dock along side the Museum.
The Federation of Norwegian Women's Societies saw her plight and began a restoration effort. After her repair and restoration the Viking was relocated to Lincoln Park in 1920, placed under a fenced-in, wooden shelter and transferred to the care of the Commissioners of Lincoln Park which later consolidated into the Chicago Park District.
Although legal trustee of the Viking ship, the Chicago Park District set aside no funds for maintenance of the boat or its shelter. For many decades the Norwegian-American community provided maintenance to the ship. But as the years passed, the Viking began to suffer. In 1978 the Scandinavian-American community rallied by forming the Viking Ship Restoration Committee, whose goal was to restore the Viking and find suitable permanent housing.
The committee consisted of individuals from various Scandinavian organizations. They raised funds through donations and began efforts to place the Viking ship inside the Museum of Science and Industry. Once close to success, their attempt failed.
In 1993, the Chicago Park District made it known that the Viking would have to be moved from its location to make room for expansion of the Lincoln Park Zoo. The General Superintendent of the Chicago Park District wrote to the Viking Ship Restoration Committee, requesting that the ship be cleaned, tarped and moved from Lincoln Park to proper storage. When the Viking Ship Restoration Committee did not respond to their letter, the General Superintendent sold the ship to the American Scandinavian Council in 1994.
The American Scandinavian Council assumed the obligation to display, repair and care for the ship within Chicago. The Council transported the Viking some 40+ miles to a materials yard in West Chicago and secured it under a canopy. Two years later the Viking was moved to Good Templar Park in Geneva where it remains.
The fabric canopy has been replaced several times. The dragon "head" and "tail" of the ship are in storage at the Museum of Science and Industry.