In the main area of the museum there are several interesting reconstructions of Viking age artefacts, including full-size copies of some of the more famous Rune-stones and one of the smaller type of boat such as might be used on a lake or river for fishing, etc. There is also a very nice recreation of a Viking house, very reminiscent of the houses in the Jorvik Viking Centre. This house, however, came complete with a very late 20th Century add-on, i.e. a security chain hung across the entrance to discourage visitors from making themselves too much at home. However in such a dimly lit interior it was next to impossible to see, and it was hung at such a height that it posed a serious threat to our masterplan of repopulating Northern Europe with Scando-Yorkshire hybrids, if you see what I mean! Close to the house was a large wooden sculpture of the god Frey, who judging by his posture was very, very pleased to see you!

Upstairs was the "Birka" section. This section houses most of the artefacts from Birka itself, as well as a wonderful model of the village, which if you waited a few minutes would show with the aid of some neat lighting effects how Birka would have looked by night as well as by day. Compared to the Jorvik Viking Centre it seemed a bit strange to see the Birka artefacts displayed so far from where they were unearthed - the exhibits in Jorvik are little more than a few metres from their original positions which somehow makes them more real as everyday objects, and also seems to bring Jorvik closer to the present day. It's as though the exhibits at Jorvik have simply been picked up from where they were accidentally dropped moments ago. When you think, however, of the remoteness of Björkö in the Stockholm Archipelago, and how bad the weather can be in winter, it seems a small price to pay to have the artefacts safe in Stockholm, and accessible to the public all year round.

Back downstairs, we then paid a visit to the Gold Room. This vault lies 8 metres under the Museum, and would have been worth the 35 SEK admission price on it's own!! The Gold Room contains over 3,000 objects weighing in at a staggering 250kg of silver and 50kg of gold. No wonder 250 metric tons of reinforced concrete went into it's construction!!! I told my wife that the very large 1000 year old solid gold and silver mjölnir pendant complete with a gold and silver neck-chain would make a superb Christmas present!!

The museum has a nice cafe (with children's play area!) and the ubiquitous gift-shop. This particular gift shop, however, boasted one of the finest collections of books about the Viking age in English that I have ever come across, including a book on Runes that might just possibly be finding it's way onto my bookshelf come January, with luck.

DISCLAIMER! As you would expect with museums, don't just turn up and expect to see everything as I've described it here - exhibitions come and go, and individual exhibits get taken away for maintenance, etc. Before you pay a visit to the MNA we strongly recommend that you check out their web site by visiting our links section.