The Sea Stallion from Glendalough, the longship Havhingsten fra Glendalough, is a faithful reconstruction of the Skuldelev 2 wreck ...

... found on the bottom of Roskilde Fjord, Norway in 1962.

Chemical analysis of the timbers revealed that Skuldelev 2 - one of five such wrecks in preservation today - was built not in any Viking homeland, but in Glendalough, Dublin in 1042.  The Irish capital had been founded by Viking settlers two centuries earlier, and had become a flourishing trading centre with a large Scandinavian population and close ties to the rest of the Viking world.

The Skuldelev 2 is believed to have been sunk in Roskilde Fjord after thirty years of service.

In December 2004, Her Majesty Queen Margrethe launched the project to build her replica in Denmark.  Only traditional methods would be used, even down to cutting the timbers solely with the Viking axe.  She would be thirty metres long and with a beam of almost four metres.  Her sail would be linen and cover 118 square metres.  Her crew complement would be a maximum eighty oarsmen and women.

The summation of that noble effort was her long voyage, begun on June 30th this year, “back” to Dublin.  She left Roskilde on 30th Jun, stopping in Kirkwall in Orkney and Kyleakin in Skye, and Lagavulin Bay on 30th July.  She arrived triumphantly in Dublin on 14th August.

And how did the political world react to this stirring event?  Need you ask?

The Danish government has expressed regret over the Viking invasion of Ireland more than 1,000 years ago.

The apologetic gesture came as a replica Norse warrior ship arrived in Dublin after a voyage across the North Sea.

Danish Culture Minister Brian Mikkelson said his country was proud of the ship, Havhingsten (The Sea Stallion).

“But we are not proud of the damages to the people of Ireland that followed in the footsteps of the Vikings,” he said.

“But the warmth and friendliness with which you greet us today and the Viking ship show us that, luckily, it has all been forgiven.”

Surely, not quite the Viking spirit.