The National Museum at Collins Barracks will open a new exhibition tonight to prepare for the return of a Dublin Viking long ship that is returning home after nearly 1,000 years.
The Havhingsten fra Glendalough (Sea Stallion from Glendalough) is an exact replica of a ship, the Skuldelev 2, that was built in Dublin in 1042 and found at the bottom of the Roskilde Fjord in Denmark in 1962.
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde decided to undertake an ambitious plan to reconstruct the long ship and then sail it from Denmark around Britain to its home in Dublin.
The ship will set sail from Roskilde with with a crew of 65 men and women to test the replica ship under realistic conditions in the very waters the original ship was built to cross.
At the exhibition in Collins Barracks visitors can track the Sea Stallion's journey and learn about the excavation and reconstruction project.
The ship itself is not due to arrive until in Dublin until August 14th. It will spend two days on the docks before being moved to Collins Barracks, where a crane will lift it over the buildings into the courtyard.
It will remain on display until next summer, when the crew will make a return journey to Denmark.
Admission to both the exhibition and the ship is free of charge.
