Viking ships and royal tombs — Denmark's medieval capital
Roskilde was the capital of Denmark for much of the medieval period and remains the burial place of Danish royalty — 39 kings and queens lie in the Gothic cathedral, which holds a UNESCO World Heritage designation. The Viking Ship Museum preserves five original Viking ships raised from the Roskilde Fjord, where they were deliberately sunk around 1070 to block a shipping channel. The museum also runs a working shipyard building new Viking ships using original techniques. The Roskilde Festival, held each July, is Scandinavia's largest music festival.
Roskilde was Denmark's royal capital from the 10th to 15th century, when Copenhagen gradually assumed that role. King Harald Bluetooth (of Bluetooth fame) is buried here. The cathedral, begun in 1170 by Bishop Absalon, became the burial church of the Danish royal family — every Danish monarch since Margrete I (died 1412) is interred here in increasingly elaborate chapels added over six centuries. The five Viking ships in the museum were excavated from the fjord in 1962; they represent different ship types from around 1070, including a longship and a coastal trader, and give the clearest pictu…