Water has always been important in Larvik, ever since the times when the Vikings sailed in to build Norway’s first town at Kaupang and Colin Archer shaped the boats of the future to make polar exploration a reality. Larvik is also the birthplace of explorer Thor Heyerdahl, famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947.
The Viking city of Kaupang was founded around the year 800. The location was a busy hub for trade and production. Today, you can visit The Kaupang Viking Town during summer, where you can enter a replica of a Viking house and see a model of the original city.
We ere guided around in a exhibition and outside in the beautiful green landscape. Here we learned about the history of the Vikings' life in Kaupang town. We also got insight in crafts, religion and food culture.
The town of Kaupang was founded around the year 800. The location was significant when the town was established as a hub for trade and production. At Kaupang today there is built a Viking house like they think it could have been. You can also see a model of the town and get to know how the town was located.
Many have dug and researched Kaupang from the 1800s until now. Most of the city is still not excavated. In the exhibition "What Kaupang Earth hid" we got an insight into how archaeologists worked, what they did and what we know about Kaupang history today.
Stein Morten Lund, 3rd August 2020
Additional information
Some useful information sources:
Welcome to Kaupang - the vikingtown
Kaupang Viking town VisitVestfold