Restoring a century-old Viking ship’s dragon head and tail wasn’t easy.
Tuesday, Sept. 12, Anna Weiss-Pfad chronicled the process in a speech titled “Conserving a Dragon: The Conservation and Restoration of the 1893 Viking Ship Dragon Head and Tail.”
The principal conservator at Elmhurst-based Third Coast Conservation keynoted the September program in the Geneva History Museum’s monthly Brown Bag series.
Weiss-Pfad reported that her five-person team found up to 15 layers of gold, black, white, yellow and red paint on the pieces. The restorers believe the pieces were repainted multiple times between 1920 and 1978, while Viking was on display in Lincoln Park.
In 1979, before the head and tail were placed in storage at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, they were moved to a Sugar Grove artist’s home for restoration. After the pieces were painted red, gold, and green, they were stored at the museum for more than 50 years.
Weiss-Pfad thanked Friends of the Viking Ship, Vesterheim Archives, Methods and Materials, Museum of Science and Industry, McCrone Group and Alden Identification for cooperating in the restoration.
A dragon head and tail framed the Viking, a replica ship sailed from Norway to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Terry Emma, museum director, said the ship is the largest surviving display artifact of the 1893 Columbian Exposition.
Since 1995, the ship has been on display under a shelter at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive in Geneva.
The Geneva museum is the first to display Freya, named by museum visitors, as the centerpiece of the current “Viking’s Voyage” feature exhibit open through Dec. 23.
According to Emma, Friends of the Viking Ship, a nonprofit, received a grant to restore the head and the tail by Third Coast.
Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays thru Saturdays. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 3-10, seniors 65+ and students; free Tuesdays for veterans, active military and museum members.
Gallery visitors will receive a coupon for $2 off a tour of the Viking ship. Persons who tour the ship will receive a coupon for $1 off museum admission.
The museum’s Brown Bag series continues at noon Tuesday, Oct. 10, with “To Iceland! And Beyond!” by Dave Barrow, Friends of the Viking Ship docent; and on Tuesday at noon, Nov. 14, with “Winter Life in Viking Times” by Dave Nordin, vice president, Friends vice president.
Admission is free for museum members and $5 for others.
For more information, call (630) 232-4951 or visit genevahistorymuseum.org.
—Al Benson