Jorvik Viking Centre - The Centre Today

The Centre Today

In 2001, the centre was refurbished and enlarged at a cost of £5 million, a further investment of £1 million followed in February 2010. These investments were used to "intensify the message" at Jorvik, and included such changes as extending the ride time to 12 minutes, as well as adding more high-tech elements, which included a hike in "the technology and animation elements," and increasing "the sensory stimuli to include smells, more sounds, heat, cold and damp." Visitors are taken back to 5:30pm 25 October 975 AD in a time-capsule, and then embark on a tour of a reconstructed Viking settlement which includes Viking voices speaking in Old Norse, as well as aromas and "life-like animated figures, made by laser technology from skeletons found on the site." Beyond this is an extensive museum area, which combines an exhibition of some 800 finds from the site with interactive displays and the opportunity to learn about tenth-century life and to discuss it with "Viking" staff. Among the exhibits is a replica of the Coppergate Helmet, which was found near the site of the centre and is now in the Yorkshire Museum. A new museum was opened on 13 February 2010, coinciding with the start of the annual Viking Festival in York. The centre contains new exhibitions and features.