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Questions about Foteviken Museum

Short answers, pulled from the story.

What is the Foteviken Museum?

The Foteviken Museum is an archaeological open-air museum on the Höllviken peninsula in southern Skåne, Sweden. It includes a reconstruction of a Viking Age settlement known as the Viking Reserve, where visitors take part in living history reenactments, and it also serves as the municipal museum of Vellinge Municipality.

When was the Foteviken Museum founded?

A foundation called SVEG, the Scandinavian Viking Explorer Group, was formed in 1987 under Björn M. Buttler Jakobsen. The group began planning a maritime museum in 1993 and opened the Foteviken Museum in 1995, with Jakobsen as its director.

What is the Battle of Fotevik and how does it relate to the Foteviken Museum?

The Battle of Fotevik was fought in Foteviken Bay on the 4th of June 1134, and local interest in the battle helped drive the museum's creation. The reserve's setting, depicting the late Viking Age transition into the Scandinavian Middle Ages, is designed broadly enough to include the battle.

How big is the Foteviken Museum's Viking Reserve?

The museum occupies approximately 70,000 square meters on Höllviken Bay. The reserve includes around 22 buildings, including a tapestry-lined chieftain's house and a hof, along with three large halls, a restaurant seating up to 200, and a feast hall.

What happened at the Foteviken Museum's viking market in 2016?

In the summer of 2016, five performers from a group called the Nordic International Slave Trade Company reportedly threw a bag over a tourist's head and auctioned her off as a thrall at the museum's viking market. Police said they would speak with people at the museum about the treatment of members of the public.

Who visits the Foteviken Museum and what events does it hold?

The Foteviken Museum markets itself as open to "all Vikings" and draws large numbers of Viking Age reenactors, many from outside Scandinavia, particularly Germany. It hosts an annual international viking thing in the Tinghöll building, a Midwinter fire festival, a May Eve bonfire, and Viking Week in late June, which has included a viking market since 1997.