£2m needed to resurrect North Yorkshire historic attraction

YORK’S renowned historic attraction Jorvik Viking Centre is undertaking a £2m fundraising campaign to help recover from the Boxing Day floods.

The attraction has put a price tag of £2m on its “re-imagining” of the centre for the 21st century.

The centre is currently closed and aims to reopen by early 2017.

Jorvik have named their fundraising campaign #CampaignCanute after a “fierce warrior” Viking king, who ascended the throne 1000 years ago this year.

£4,500 has been donated already.

In the meantime, three major exhibitions are being planned for the city whilst the attraction is closed.

“Over the last 32 years, we’ve had three major refurbishments and as our team of archaeologists and specialists have learned more about the Vikings in York, we’ve updated to incorporate the latest research.

“Whilst we could simply replicate the pre-flood displays, our mission to educate in an accessible way drives us to plan how we can do it even better than before – and to do this, we will need to raise a significant sum of money,” said chief executive, David Jennings.

“Whilst this is an ambitious plan for an independent charity, we have 18 million ambassadors for the JORVIK experience, and the high profile nature of the flooding means that people around the world are aware of our plight.”

Director of attractions Sarah Maltby of York Archaeological Trust, which are partnering with the centre, said: “We know how important JORVIK and the Vikings are to the city, which is why we’re continuing to host Europe’s largest Viking festival, and hopefully welcome another 40,000 people into the city, particularly as York’s experienced a very quiet January.”

See more about #CampaignCanute here .

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