Viking-era treasures found in field go on display for first time

0 The Galloway Hoard is the richest collection of Viking-age treasures found in the British Isles Museums chiefs have launched an international fundraising drive to secure a Viking treasure trove for the nation – as most of the haul goes on public display for the first time.

The National Museum of Scotland has put around 70 objects from the “Galloway Hoard” on show to kick-start its £1.98 million campaign.

An exhibition has opened in its grand gallery ahead of a two-year conservation project aimed at solving the mystery of where the treasures came from and how they ended up buried beneath Kirk land in Galloway.

The museum has been given six months by the Crown to match the value of the gold, silver and jewelled treasures found by metal detectorist Derek Mclennan in a field near Kirkcudbright. Experts at the museum say the hoard is the “richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland.

If its campaign is successful, it has pledged to share the treasures with a new gallery in Kirkcudbright, including a temporary display of the entire hoard, and stage a nationwide tour of highlights.

The exhibition at the National Museum, the country’s busiest visitor attraction, will run until 1 October. It is expected to be a forerunner to a permanent display, which will feature the chance to see the most fragile items which are not part of the current displays, once detailed research into the hoard is complete.

Dr Gordon Rintoul, director of the museum, said: “The hoard is of huge international importance because it contains so many rare items and includes such a huge range of material, from brooches, a gold bird pin and gold ingots to items that we’re not quite sure what their purpose and function was.

“One of the real mysteries is the geographic origins of the hoard. Some material is relatively familiar from others finds, but others look as if they have come from far-flung parts of Europe or beyond.”

Dr Martin Goldberg, senior curator of Viking collections, said: “Seeing the hoard laid out for the first time is amazing. There’s so many different types of material and so many avenues of research we’re going to be heading into.

“We have many questions about how these things arrived here. We have to figure out all the stories that each object has to tell, but there’s also the the story how they all ended up in the ground together.”