The Royal Hall in Lejre: considerations of experiments on Viking-era painted wooden surfaces
This text explores the possibilities of how the reconstruction of the building from Lejre, Mysselhøjgaard XLI, can contribute to our knowledge of the use of colours in the Viking Age.
Two archaeological finds are central: the fragmented panels from the North Mound in Jelling and the plank from the church in Hørning. But painted wood from the ship-grave from Ladby, from the equestrian grave from Grimstrup and on the shield from Trelleborg are also considered. These finds provide a very modest insight into the technical knowledge and the skills available to the aristocracy of the Viking Age. Remarkably, between Sir Isaac Newton’s measurable division into spectral colours and Johan Wolfgang von Goethe’s recognition that it is on the border between light and dark that colour becomes colour, are the beginnings of a series of experiments on how and why the Vikings painted wood. The intention is not to copy the painting but to assess how the paint was made and how the colours were used: to interpret its possibilities, experiences and potentials – and to look at the use of colours in the Viking Age as a prerequisite for medieval colours. Therefore, it is important that the experiments include both controlled and contextual elements.
The reconstruction in the Land of Legends may not only result in an impressive building, but also in a number of well-documented experiments that will contribute to the discussion of a new chapter in Denmark’s story of colour.