Nordic Heritage Museum's ship comes out!

On Monday, October 28, 2008, the Nordic Spirit was released from the shed at the Nordic Heritage Museum where she has been housed for the past 28 years.

A late 18th- or early 19th-century fishing boat from the northern fjords of Norway, the Nordic Spirit was given to Seattle’s Nordic Heritage Museum by Volvo-Penta of America in 1980, after serving as an outreach tool for the Swedish company. In the early 1960’s Volvo re-imagined and outfitted the vessel with Viking-style embellishments.

Today, the Nordic Heritage Museum believes the Nordic Spirit’s next life begins in the spring of 2009, with displays at events such as the celebration of Norway’s Constitution Day (May 17), the Northwest Folklife Festival, the Ballard Seafood Festival and culminating in the centennial celebration of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYP) late in the summer of 2009. The restored Nordic Spirit will re-enact the sailing on August 30, 1909 of the Viking from Kirkland to Portage Bay as part of Norway Day at the AYP Exposition. The celebration of Nordic participation will be a major component of next year’s centennial. Held on the University of Washington campus, the 1909 AYP attracted 3.7 million visitors to Seattle's first World's Fair and showcased Washington State as an international city.

The Nordic Heritage Museum recognizes the restoration of the Nordic Spirit as a way to honor the past and inspire current and future generations. The restored ship will be a testament to the tradition of Scandinavian shipbuilding and adaptive reuse. The vessel has already had two lives: as a Norwegian coastal fishing boat in the late 18th or early 19th century, and as an interpretive reproduction in the mid-20th century. The Nordic Spirit's much-needed restoration will enhance the museum’s on-going cultural programs.