iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Nobel Prize @nobelprize.org · 09/10/2026

BREAKING NEWS The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay for her efforts to promote peace and international law.

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Prof Janina Ramirez @drjaninaramirez.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I can finally reveal what I’ve been working on for over a year and a half! It’s BIG……💥💥💥💥💥

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Stephanie McCarter @stephaniemccarter.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I'm pleased to announce a two-day virtual meeting (21-22 October) I've organized for EuGeSta, titled "Gender and Ovidian Translation: A Global Perspective." Papers will consider the translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses into Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Norwegian.

Poster for EuGeStA virtual meeting, "Gender and Ovidian Translation: A Global Perspective," taking place on 21-22 October 2026. Sessions on both days begin at 10am Eastern. Further information in remainder of thread.

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Dr Jo Ball @drjeball.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A #Roman figurine of a dog with a raised paw, looking upwards to an unseen viewer. Dogs were popular in the Roman world as both working animals & pets, as well as being associated with healing #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

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Nils Henrik @nilshenrik.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Eg hugsar då Lars Fr. H. Svendsen var han unge professoren som stod i røykehjørnet ved Sydneshaugen skole og diskuterte Depeche Mode med studentane. No har han blitt KI-sullik. Ja, ja.

manifestmedia.no

Moralens kjerne er ikke tvang, men karakter. Han etterstreber ikke orden, men intensitet.

Filosofiprofessor Lars Fr. H. Svendsens bok om Donald Trump er breddfull av chatbot-lydende språkføring. Verket er «78 prosent AI-generert», ifølge en detektor.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

All 9 are still here. 🦢 From today's morning walk. #tinyjoys

Swans on a lake. 2 white adults and their 7 grown but still grey teens.

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DoSSE Project @dosse-project.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

What an astonishing find! According to his vita, Caesarius healed Parthenius' favourite slave, who Parthenius then put in charge of his home. Can't wait to read Jesse's study on the annotations to the City of God and learn more.

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Jesse Keskiaho @jkeskiah.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Just got my hands on this fine looking volume, including my piece on a Carolingian copy of the first eight books of De civitate carrying annotations probably made in or near Arles in the early sixth century, possibly in the entourage of bishop Caesarius doi.org/10.30965/978...

Cover of the volume Augustine's De civitate Dei. Text, Context and Reception, ed. by Anthony Dupont, Marina Giani and Gert Partoens, showing a woodcut print depicting Aurelius Augustinus as a late medieval scholar

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Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

#FrescoFriday Fragment of a Roman fresco depicting Harpocrates, the god of silence in the Hellenistic religion, 2nd century AD, Sirmijum, Panonija Inferior, Serbia.

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

New discovery: An archaeological complex with colourful mosaics and wall paintings dating to the 4th century AD has been discovered in Qesarat, Albania. 👉 www.finestresullarte.info/de/archaolog... #archaeology 🏺

An ancient geometric mosaic partially exposed in an archaeological excavation, featuring interlocking red, cream, gray, and yellow patterns.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Lararium in bright colors. Miniature temple with Minerva enthroned. Museo Archeologico di Stabia 📷 me #FrescoFriday

Lararium, yellow (ochre) colored wall with miniature temple shaped shrine. A painted, seated Minerva with helmet, shield and patera in the niche. Large snake approaching an altar with eggs and pine cones (?) below the shrine. Vivid colors.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I've been following our local swan couple for years, and told a friend how thrilled I was to see that this year, all 7 ducklings are grown and now practicing their flying on the lake. Her immediate response? "Tony Soprano called and said he wants his metaphor back." 💀😭😭😭

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marybeard @wmarybeard.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Here's a discussion about the Vestal Virgins... who, where and why. But we also try to open up how scholars now go about making sense of them, and how they change their minds.. that's me! tinyurl.com/yun74nep

tinyurl.com

The Vestal Virgins - just how virginal were they?

Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 3 September · 54min

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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Incised into a reindeer foot-bone presumably some 15,000 years ago, this engraving represents two hinds. The realistic rendering of the drawing is truly amazing! Found in the Grotte de Chaffaud/France. 📷 RMN-GP. Jean-Gilles 🏺#archaeology

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

For #FrescoFriday, the astonishing "Città Dipinta" unveiled this week at the #Oppian Hill. Painted on the exterior of a pre-Trajanic basilican hall, it might have been an ideological billboard promoting good government, before being buried as a foundation wall for Trajan's Baths. #AncientBluesky 🏺

FRESCO OF THE CITTÀ DIPINTA, LATE C1 CE. MUSEO DELLE TERME DI TRAIANO

This large fresco fragment depicts a rare bird's-eye view of a fortified city. Defensive walls with crenellated towers enclose a dense urban landscape featuring residential buildings, a theatre, and porticoes rendered in sophisticated perspective. The artwork was painted on the exterior wall of a three-aisled hall on the Oppian Hill. This building perhaps functioned as an administrative basilica connected to a nearby schola for a collegium of scribes. While the adjacent mosaic hall follows a strict north-south orientation aligning with the Domus Aurea and the Sette Sale reservoir, this hall sits on a different axis. In an administrative context, the fresco would have served as an ideological billboard projecting Roman urban prosperity to those conducting business. Dating to the Neronian or Flavian period, the building and its masterpiece of urban topography were later deliberately buried to serve as retaining walls for the Baths of Trajan.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Listening to the episode this morning reminded me of this great light-reconstruction of Polyphemus and Galatea in the house of Livia that I saw in July. #frescoFriday 📸 me

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The bicameral mind. For #ReliefWednesday, a late antique #ivory #diptych in the #Bargello. The left panel shows St Paul on #Malta, complete with horrified bystanders reacting to a viper biting his hand. On the right, Adam is rendered as a classical pagan hero. #AncientBluesky 🏺

IVORY DIPTYCH WITH SCENES OF SAINT PAUL AND ADAM, C. 400 CE. MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO, FLORENCE

This intricately carved late antique ivory diptych presents what appears to modern eyes as a stylistic clash, but which actually reflects a perfectly coherent worldview. The left panel features dynamic, chaotic scenes from the life of Saint Paul, centring on his time on Malta where he shakes a viper into a fire while bystanders react with visceral horror. This dramatic New Testament narrative of the fallen world contrasts sharply with the right panel, which displays Adam in the Garden of Eden surrounded by a peaceful menagerie. Adam is rendered as a classical heroic nude, his static and idealised pose mirroring pagan depictions of Orpheus. To the late antique mind, there was no dissonance in pairing active Christian miracle stories with calm classical imagery. The diptych effortlessly employs established classical artistic vocabulary to convey a unified Christian dogmatic message, visually arguing that the ultimate goal of New Testament salvation is a return to the pre-fall harmony of Eden.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

That said, I'll truly be forever grateful to Nolan and Hiddleston for how they've made my teenagers more curious about my work. Bridging worlds, I guess 😅

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I binged "Pompeii: Out of time" with my youngest this weekend, and now I am (once again) thinking about popular culture's didactical boons - and potential pitfalls - for school teachers. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

variety.com

‘Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston’: A Rare Doc That Could Actually Attract a Young Audience

Nat Geo's docuseries 'Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston' was made to capture the interest of young audiences.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"Like Aeneas fleeing a burning Troy in Virgil’s epic, the inhabitants of Pompeii had carried their gods away with them, along with their children and aged parents." What happened to those who escaped Pompeii? Book review by Greg Woolf in TLS www.the-tls.com/classics/mis...

the-tls.com

Missing persons

The ancients had no word for volcano. They had no conception of the molten rock that occasionally welled up to the surface beneath them; nor did they know

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/books/pictur...

Title: Methods for Encouraging a Reluctant Young Reader

Panel 1
Caption: Read Together
Image: A small child sits on a sofa, face buried in a book, between two adults doing the same.

Panel 2
Caption: Bribery
Image: The small child sits on a treasure chest wearing a crown, face buried in a book, in a room full of coins, jewels and precious items.

Panel 3
Caption: Element of danger
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, precariously balanced on a thin branch in a tall tree.

Panel 4
Caption: Reverse Psychology
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, beside a huge bookshelf and a sign that reads “Adults Only”

Panel 5
Caption: Pulleys and Pistons
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, amidst a complicated mechanism that provides endless new books.

Panel 6
Caption: Rituals and Incantations
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, in a circle of candles amidst clouds of smoke and mysterious phrases.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Our sweet neighbour Felix coming to greet us on our morning walk today. #Caturday #tinyjoys

Red tabby cat and black dog (just a little bigger than the cat) standing next to each other looking towards the camera.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

“But also, I think, I’m looking for a myth because of the particular force of mythological thinking. Something happens to your brain when faced with myth, like some forms of poetry: we switch on to decoding, rather than to simple, passive understanding.” p.119 #reception #mythology #Proteus

Cover of book. Valeria Luiselli: Beginning, middle, end.

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marybeard @wmarybeard.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Were the Roman Vestal Virgins really buried alive if they "lost" their virginity. I'm afraid the answer is yes (but it didn't happen as often claimed). We try to get to the hear of the Vestals on Instant Classics; www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG31...

youtube.com

The Vestal Virgins - just how virginal were they?

YouTube video by Instant Classics

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I always play this at the start of our introductory course in religion. #acrel #religionandpopularculture #Bergen ☔️🌊

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Sacrifice to Diana. Scene from the hall of the small hunt (Sala della piccola caccia) at Villa Casale, Sicily. #MosaicMonday 📸 me

Small golden statue of Diana (holding bow and reaching for an arrow) on a pedestal flanked by tall trees. Man sacrificing on altar in front of the statue, men with horses (and a dog) turned towards the statue on both sides.
Detail, centrally placed in the upper half of large floor mosaic at Villa Casale.

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Roman clay hot water bottles in the shape of human body parts used for therapeutic purposes some 2,000 years ago! Found in a building which may have been a healing centre. Paphos Archaeological Museum, Cyprus 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows a museum display at Paphos Archaeological Museum of ancient Roman red clay vessels shaped like human body parts each of which has a spout with a handle either side, allowing it to be filled with hot water or oil. The clay walls of the vessels are only 3 mm thick so that heat would be conducted to the body. They are comparable in size to the corresponding human parts of the body including ears, torso, groin, hands, thigh, knee, shin, and feet. They are mounted for the display over a simple outline of a human figure, illustrating their possible therapeutic use around 2,000 years ago.

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The Partial Historians 🏺 @partialhistorians.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

This #FrescoFriday is for lovers! Though we hope your romances have better success than Dido and Aeneas. This beautiful fresco is from the House of the Citharist in Pompeii.

Fresco shows Dido with her arms around Aeneas. Both are partially nude. Two other figures can be seen to the right. A woman sitting (Dido’s sister maybe?) and a man standing who may be an attendant. Fresco held in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (inv. 112282); fresco originally from the House of Citharist in Pompeii. Copyright of this image is held by Stefano Bolognini.

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Josephine Quinn @josephinequinn.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I am VERY EXCITED to see the ad come out for post-doc positions associated with my Cambridge Lab for Ancient World Studies: please pass on to anyone who might be interested and works across ancient regions/languages/worlds... www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

cam.ac.uk

Research Associate (Fixed Term)

Applications are sought for three Research Associates to join the Cambridge Lab for Ancient World Studies (CLAWS), directed by Professor Josephine Quinn. Starting no later than 1 October 2027, you wil...

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Anthony Majanlahti @anthonymajanlahti.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Come fly with me. For #FrescoFriday, this mid-C1 CE Pompeian #fresco captures the myth's suspense. The artist drops a still-upright Icarus into a serene coastal landscape, shocking the boatmen below while languid figures on the cliff simply look on. #AncientBluesky 🏺

FRESCO OF THE FALL OF ICARUS, PLASTER AND PIGMENT, FROM POMPEII, 50-75 CE. BRITISH MUSEUM

This mid-C1 CE painted wall panel from Pompeii depicts the myth of Icarus against a serene Roman coastal landscape. A red border frames the scene, where the winged figure of Icarus remains upright and airborne, capturing the suspenseful moment before his catastrophic plunge. The background features a fortified coastal city on a rocky hill, complete with an amphitheatre. This mythological event is deliberately juxtaposed with an idyllic seaside setting, including a maritime villa on the left shore. In the foreground, witnesses react to the impossible sight. Two languid figures lounge on the right-hand rocky cliffs, while two figures in a small wooden boat in the centre raise their arms in sheer astonishment at the boy above them. Icarus is here caught eternally at the moment of his joyous escape into the sky. Unlike him, the viewer knows the flying boy is doomed.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

I saw Nolan's The Odyssey again today with my MCU consultant, and almost expected these three to show up in an end credit scene. Description in ALT 📸 me

Terracotta figurine depicting Aeneas carrying his father Anchises on his shoulder and with his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus) at his side.
From Pompeii, 1st cent CE. Now at MANN.
Popular motif of them escaping from the burning Troy.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Another related association to the layered motif of (omnipresent?) Athena in the expanded homeric storyworld. Identified as Iphigeneia with the Palladium and torch. Villa San Marco. 📸 me #frescofriday

Fresco, red background, female dressed in blue and yellow, carrying a light brown (wooden) statue of Athena on her shoulder and a torch pointing downward. Identified as Iphigeneia.

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Terracotta sirens with charming individualized faces. Not only their songs that can make you drawn to them, I guess. 🎶 Ex votos at Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Reggio Calabria. 📸 me Museum description in ALT

From the museum label text: "Ex votos from the sanctuary of contrada Mannella at Locri."
"7. Siren, with a bird body and female head. 8. Votive figures of sirens of Locrian production. Exotic objects of Eastern production (Egypt, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Rhodes)"

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Matias Faldbakken’s "En opprettholdelse" ('Upholding'), a mosaic consisting of 300 000 pieces framed by a blue steel rig. Commemorating the killings at Utøya and Regjeringskvartalet 22. July 2011. #MosaicMonday on a Sunday morning in Oslo ❤️‍🩹

Monumental 300 000 tesserae black and white mosaic depicting a fragile wading bird and its upside-down reflection in the water, surrounded by thin reeds, framed and supported (also partially) over the motif by a massive blue steel rig. The sun only reaches the upper half, leaving the bird's reflection in the lower half in the shadow.

Side view shoving the monochrome red back and the blue rig of the mosaic Upholding (Matias Faldbakken, 2026).

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

From the Prime Minister's speech here just a few days ago, on 22 July: #MosaicMonday www.regjeringen.no/en/whats-new...

Screen shot of text. For the whole speech, follow the link in the post.

"reeds and a bird. Some have been asking when will the steel structure be removed? The answer is never, because it supports this beautiful mosaic and shows us that we support one another.

The monument links together the city and the island of Utøya. The names of all 77 victims are engraved in the steel beam at the bottom. And when we look towards the mosaic, we are in fact also looking towards Utøya."

Screen shot of text. For the whole speech, follow the link in the post.

"These trees, and their roots, have survived. They are 'upholding'. The reeds and the bird in the mosaic seem fragile, much like life itself.
But nature - and we are all part of nature too -is also robust. Like the steel that preserved Picasso and Nesjar's 'The Seagull", and which now protects another bird, in another landscape."

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

The laconic museum label (also given in the alt in the image here and above).

Text: Decorazione pittorica di una nicchia con Aiace e Cassandra Dalla Necropoli di Porto all'Isola Sacra, tomba 87

Pictorial decoration of a niche with Ajax and Cassandra From the Necropolis of Portus on the Isola Sacra, tomb 87

Meta del II secolo d.C. / Mid-2nd century AD Intonaco dipinto (affresco)/ Painted plaster (fresco)

Inv 10115

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Sissel Undheim @unsissel.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

So much to say, and much written by wise and erudite experts, but what really haunts me after seeing Nolan's The Odyssey is this faded fresco from the museum at Ostia Antica. (I should perhaps label this with a #spoileralert, or maybe it's just me)

Cassasanda clinging to the altar and statue of Athena while Ajax forecefully drags her away from it. The motif is well known in myth as well as visual art.

From the museum's label:
"Decorazione pittorica di una nicchia con Aiace e Cassandra Dalla Necropoli di Porto all'Isola Sacra, tomba 87

Pictorial decoration of a niche with Ajax and Cassandra
From the Necropolis of Portus on the Isola Sacra, tomb 87
Meta del II secolo d.C. / Mid-2nd century AD Intonaco dipinto (affresco)/ Painted plaster (fresco)
Inv 10115

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Ida Östenberg @idaostenberg.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Ger cyklopbetyg till en stilig drottning, en enastående bågklang, en klaustrofobisk häst, en knådande Kirke. Om att Homeros Odysseus INTE FÖRÄNDRAS, att gudar och det grymmaste våldet inte visas. att alla tider gör sina tolkningar. Att antiken lever! www.dn.se/kultur/ida-o...

dn.se

Ida Östenberg: Så många cykloper delar jag ut till den episka ”The Odyssey”

Fotot och musiken är klart bäst ”The Odyssey”. Världsklass! Antikvetaren Ida Östenberg har sett Christopher Nolans aktuella filmatisering av ”Odysséen”.

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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Carved head of a beast. From the #VikingAge Oseberg ship burial of two women. It is one of five unique carved animal heads from the womens’ richly-furnished ship grave. AD 834. Norway. 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows an ornately carved wooden head of a beast-like animal with a long wooden neck. Excavated from the Viking Age Oseberg ship burial of two women. The creature has a rounded snout with flared nostrils, a wide open mouth, and large, bulging eyes that give it a fierce expression.

The surface of the head is covered with exceptionally fine carvings. The back of the head is covered with interlaced ribbons and animals, and the top of the snout is ornamented with a cross-hatched pattern.The decoration is so dense that almost every visible part of the head is textured. The features are stylized rather than natural, creating a powerful guardian-like figure that reflects a high level of Viking craftsmanship. The long neck is smooth wood except for a geometric band around the bottom, not seen in my photo.

The Oseberg Viking ship burial of two women contained five of these unique carved animal heads, the exact function of which is unclear. Each head was found with an iron rattle attached to a rope, and some of the ropes ran through the mouth of the beasts.

I saw this artefact in 2018 at the former Viking Ship Museum in Oslo which has now closed. It is being redeveloped and will open late 2027 as the Museum of the Viking Age

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