Geneva Viking ship replica tours to open April 15

The Geneva Viking Ship will open for public summer visits from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15, 2023

The Geneva Viking Ship will be open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at Geneva’s Good Templar Park.

Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for teens. Children younger than 12 will be admitted for free. Parking is free at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive.

Self-guided and docent-guided tours are available every 15 minutes. The final guided tour of the day will be at 3:45 p.m.

Other dates the ship will be open are May 20, June 18, during Swedish Days on June 24 and 25, July 15, Aug. 19, Sept. 16 and during the Cottages in the Woods Festival on Oct. 21 and 22.

Built in Sandeford, Norway, in 1892 and 1893, the Viking is a copy of the Gokstad, a ship excavated in Norway in 1880, according to a news release. The life-size replica, dubbed the Viking, was sailed from Bergen, Norway, to the Chicago Columbian Exposition (World’s Fair) in 1893. Visitors can learn about construction, crew, the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Chicago and local history.