Oslo Peninsula News

Proposed Ship Move Stirs Outrage

The University of Oslo has decided to move three grand Viking ships, probably by truck and barge, to a new museum across town despite dire claims that the thousand-year-old oak vessels could fall apart en route, according to a report on the New York Times News Service. A retired curator of Oslo's current Viking Ship Museum -- Arne Emil Christensen -- reportedly has said the delicately preserved ships, two of which are nearly 80 feet long, were almost equal in archeological importance to the Pyramids. The university's board of directors voted 8-3 to move the vessels over the objections of Christensen and several other Viking Age scholars.