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by Ravindra Seneviratne

If you happened to be in Oslo there are opportunities to learn about the great boat builders, explorers and the history of Norsemen the masters of the sea. Bygdoy the Peninsula situated south of Oslo can be reached in ten minutes from the heart of the city to the place for three museums, which are dedicated to an ancient, and two century old explorers. Viking Ship, Polar (Fram) ship, and Kon-Tiki Museums all three situated in a close proximity.

Norsemen popularly known as Norwegians is a section of the Scandinavians. Swedes, Norse and Danes whom they were originally christened as Vikings the warriors amazed the entire Europe with their capabilities in sea going vessels building, since over 1000 years were known as masters of the sea.

"The Vikings" history runs into 3rd - 4th centuries since 790 A.D. - 1100 A.D. during this period they became the raiders, explorers and eventually the traders exploring uncharted seas and waterways settled in various parts of the continent, they also explored the North America even before the Christopher Columbus according to history records and the remains of Viking settlements unearthed in Newfoundland.

Going back to the era of Vikings and their traditions one could find something unusual and a spectacular site in the museum of Vikingskiphuset is how sailing vessels used as burial chambers, three burial vessels displayed at the museum were excavated near by farms in Oslofjord. The main exhibit the Oseberg built in 9th century is the well-preserved burial ship that is believed to be the coffin for a Viking Queen who died in 834 A.D. buried with possibly the servant and her valuables found at the time of excavation surrounded by blue clay that may have caused the preservation for over thousand years.

One of the astonishing places visited during my recent tour to Oslo was the Fram Ship museum where the world's strongest ship that explored the both North and South Poles is preserved.

This century old but well maintained huge ship the Fram that sailed across world oceans displayed with its navigational equipment and the belongings of the men who challenged the Artic and Antarctic. Polar explorers and researchers like Frittjof Nansen, Hjalmar Johnsen, Roald Amundsen and Otto Sverdrup who put Norwegians on the world map north and south utilising the Fram (1892 - 1911) became country's heroes, and the Fram that brought fame to Norway is a national treasure now. 1992 marked the centenary of the year in which the polar vessel Fram was launched.

The name "Fram" - which means "forward" in Norwegian - is inseparably linked with some of the most significant achievements in Norwegian and international polar history, and with some of the greatest explorers of recent times.

Third of these museums is the Kon-Tiki. The Kon-Tiki Museum is a tribute to the 20th century explorer Thor Heyerdahl. This museum contains his famous balsa wood raft ship the Kon Tiki that he and four crew members sailed 4300 miles from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. They caught fish using ancient techniques and captured rain water to drink. The voyage of the Kon Tiki was published in a prize-winning book (The Kon-Tiki Expedition) and documentary movie.

By making this voyage, Heyerdahl proved that explorers could have crossed the Pacific during ancient times.

Heyerdahl's other exploration craft the Ra II is also inside the museum. He sailed the Ra II, a craft made of papyrus, from Africa to the Caribbean in 1970. The museum also includes artefacts from Easter Island and other souvenirs from Heyerdahl's voyages.

The Norwegian shipping is the story of a country built a floating empire and made the oceans of the world its workplace. The world map shows why and how Norway's development into a great maritime nation was not a coincidence, with their proximity to the seas and difficult communications over land weather made them to transport their goods by boats and soon discovered it as a money spinning venture carrying goods for others and generated an enormous wealth.

Since then still retained their position as specialists in the world's cargo transportation, fishing and specialised in oil, liquid gas, coal and chemical freighting even under extreme weather conditions. The masters of the sea play a major role on international arena in ship building, specialised in sea transport, offshore activities, merchant shipping and own the third largest merchant fleet in the world.

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