Be a volunteer or craftsman at Foteviken

Be a craftsman at Fotevikens Museum

We are looking for craftsmen to take part in our living history education at reconstructed Viking town of Foteviken Museum. We are primarily focusing on themes like textiles, leatherworking, ceramics, food and cooking, metal- and wood-working. All work takes place in or around the farmsteads and estates that form the historical museum environments. We work in time typical Viking Age clothing, using historical tools and methods.

There are many other crafts we wish to show other than the ones previously mentioned. Working with amber, bone and horn, making baskets, musical instruments, rune carving, salt production etc. These crafts are just as important, and if you are skilled in any of them you are just as welcome.

To work as a craftsman in the Viking town you must know your craft and be outward and accommodating to museum visitors:

You are serviceminded and keep in mind that our visitors will experience a taste of history through you and your skills.
It is helpful if you are good at talking to people in an engaging manner. You are passionate about keeping old crafts techniques and traditions alive.
It is a bonus if you have experience working at other museums, tourist organisations or such, but not a requirement.
You will need to speak primarily Swedish and/or English, but if you know German it is a plus. The Viking Age was a global and multilingual time.

We primarily look for people able to work between July 1 and September 30. We are offering an employment by the hour including holiday pay. Work days are between 11:00 to 15:00 with no lunch break. The shortest work period is for 1 week, but we hope you will participate longer than that. Each work pass is made up of four courses like weaving, spinning, carding, and the participants are the groups of visitors that gather around you. The project is performed in collaboration with Medborgarskolan.

If you live far from Foteviken Museum we can offer simple free accommodations in our volunteer house, consisting of rooms with bunk beds. Or if you prefer you may stay in one of the reconstructing houses within the Viking Town, or in your own Viking tent. There are showers, toilets and facilities for cooking by the volunteer house.

This employment can be combined with other volonteer work on site.

In week 18 (starting May 1) we will gather craftsmen for an information meeting and to show how we work. You will be invited to participate in this.

Please send your application to info@foteviken.se with the subject line "förmedling av vikingahantverk". Please include a picture of yourself and your craft and a description of what your skills are.

What is a volunteer?

A volunteer is simply a person who is so interested in his speciality that he or she are willing to spend time, commitment and work with self-satisfaction as the reward.

Do you want to be a volunteer at Foteviken Museum ?

You are interested in Vikings and the Viking age and would like to live and work in a historic setting. While not required, it is a plus if you are outgoing, enjoy acting and role playing or are theatrical. The Viking town offers an unparalleled chance to enjoy those interests. If you are interested in old crafts you will get an excellent chance to learn and practice with us. Socializing with like-minded people in the Viking town can be very stimulating and satisfying.

Fotevikens Museum with its Viking Town is an Archaeological Open Air Museum, meaning the Viking town is built with archaeological finds as a template and historical sources as a basis. Here the inhabitants live according to the contemporary Viking age standards to create a credible time travel experience for our visitors.

The Viking town lives in the year 1138 AD, a time of transition between the Viking Age and Middle Ages. A few years earlier, the Battle of Foteviken took place. Now the dead are buried and the marketplace has evolved into a town. Re-enactors from all over the world come here each year to recreate the battle of Foteviken for a few days during the Foteviken Viking Market.

Craftsmen, Storyteller, Intermediaries, Students, Researchers, Actor

As a volunteer, you will help populate the town and bring to life the daily life of a Viking society to the visitors of the museum. This includes not only to the general public, but also visiting school classes. If you have special interests or are good at older crafts, study or research, have an educational interest, play theatre and role-playing games, or if you simply are very interested in Viking life, we believe you will fit in here really well.

We also need the help of our volunteers with various other tasks during the summer and especially during the Viking Week and the Viking Market, which takes place the week after Midsummer (usually the last week in June).

Why do we need volunteers?

Fotevikens Museum is an Archaeological Open Air Museum. Such museums are common in Europe but in Sweden there are only a few. Like Middelaldercentret, one of our counterparts in Denmark, and other similar facilities across Europe, we are constantly in need of enthusiastic interns and volunteers to populate our town and provide visitors with a living Viking experience.

As a volunteer, you get the opportunity to visit and participate in seminars, workshops and courses at, among others, the Middelaldercentret.

How to become a volunteer

To mark your interest in volunteering send an email to: info@foteviken.se and we will contact you.

When you have arrived you shall join the association SVEG (Scandinavian Viking Explorer Group). Then you will be covered by the association’s insurance while staying in our facilities. Go to the SVEG website and register.

If you do not have Viking age clothing fitting your role you may borrow an attire from the museum. If you have a viking tent you may live in it within the Viking Town. If you have a plastic tent you may live just outside the museum. As a volunteer you may also live free of charge in our volunteer house. This is a modern age building located just outside the museum area with several rooms with bunk beds.

This information is also available as a downloadable folder (PDF).

All you have to know as a Volunteer at Foteviken Museum. (Pocketbook 48 pages, PDF)