kensington runestone

hollys183

We learned about the Kensington Runestone and toured their lovely museum. The kids even learned a couple new games (that are not electronic!) and we purchased one of them in the gift store. Well worth the entrance fee. A must see if you are in the area and enjoy learning about Minnesota history.

chefjimmace

It was an incredible experience to see something that carries with it such history! The story of the Runestone was well portrayed and taught us much of the history of this lovely area. The Runestone Museum furthered our learning about what this area used to be like. Not to be missed when you travel to or through Alexandria, Minnesota!

volvo57

"THE" Kensington Runestone had always had it share of doubters ... fellas with hands-in-pockets,wagging their heads from right to left - followed by a few good shrugs or the shoulders. But now with advanced research there has been a more creditable match with the character type found on the Swedish island of Gotland. Authenticity is gaining more momentum, albeit slow.Lets face it, no government employee wants to give up Columbus Day for say, Leif Erickson Door Jammer specials at Walmart. The stone has amassed thousands (Oh you bet - tousans, Norg.) of frequent flier miles on study trips to the homeland (Swed, Norg. Den.) and the Smithsonian. And considering Olaf Ohlman the farmer who used it as a step to his granery (grain storage building) for years was generally not known as a huckster ... it's probably the genuine item. Oh not as real as the Biggest Ball of Twine or touchable as the Largest Frying Pan in central Illinois, but the gift shop here in Alexandria has much neater stuff.Addendum: A nice display of Woodland American Indian apparel. Go. Lean in.

gdbrown16s

A nice small town museum with an interesting artifact, the Kensington Runestone with controversy since its discovery. The museum offers "period and wildlife exhibits", as well as other exhibits and items.The museum is located on the north end of the downtown main drag, North Broadway. A 28 foot tall Viking statue of Big Ole guides you to the museum, which is also adjacent to the Central Lakes Trail.Parking is free and there are many restaurants very close by if you desire dining and/or refreshments. This is a nice family museum.

smilemonster

Wonderful staff. Excellent small museum with tons of local artifacts and interesting history. The Runestone is very mysterious. Local Holy Grail movie a good pre- trip movie to watch to help understand some of how it was found and theories to what it may mean. It is facinating, even if you don't believe all of it. Quite the controversy over it all.

MissPriss234

Students and practitioners of beautiful script know that available space will fill up with intentions and errors. Even the errors have formal recognition and methods for making them acceptable, ways of placing shortages and misplacements which are common and usual to the time, standard operating procedure for scribes in an multiple effort to keep all the message distinctly formal and complete. Writing was historically confined to a small group, often a community of affinity and the rules were no less strict than in the music theory classes of today. Ink spills, rock abrades and often in an unintended way. The Kensington Runestone could not have been a forgery because a forge would not have known the artistic impulse and accepted practice for dealing with imperfections.

TravelinBob76

This was really neat to see and learn how the real Vikings ended up in Central Minnesota. The Runestone itself was very unique and the story behind it is very interesting as well.

lakedarling

Interesting piece of Scandinavian history. Lends support to the theory that the Vikings discovered American BEFORE Christopher Columbus.

RichardH792

I'm Norge. What more can you say?Because the review must be more than characters I will Type away serchering for the grail

Michelled728

We were on our way back home and took a detour. Saw the sign and figured we probably wouldn't be passing here again and decided to stop. It was kind of deep in there from when we first saw the sign. Would be nice if there was a guide on the sign "3 miles" etc. When we got there, there was a memorial with a runestone. We still are not sure if that was a replica of the Runestone or the real thing. There was a big old barn/museum that was open, but I didn't have time to read all the info on the walls. Definitely interesting to see the history and debate of this artifact. We kept driving to see if it was somewhere else, because we saw a sign about the site where it was found. We went over there and there were some flag poles and rocks but nothing else. Cool to see but wish I would've known what I was looking at.

KathrynS533

Our family loves local history and this is just so interesting ! We even learned to read and right in "ruins" for fun. Love The Runeston Museum !!! ALOT !!!!

TimK990

Nicely done local museum. Mix of local history with the lore of the runestone. Worth 30-60 minutes of your time if you're in town.

NDfarmgirl

This was not our first trip here, as we live only 300 miles away.This little museum is unbelievably fascinating, and leaves you with a sense of mystery for days. The more my family visits, the more entralled we are. Thirteen year old daughter loves it.I am quite certain that the runestone on exhibit here is a replica though, and the original is housed in the Smithsonian. There has been much skeptasism of it's authenticity since it was discovered around 1900, and the growing facts that lean towards it's authenticity had me and the husband debating it for two days following our visit.Also on site is a small village that replicates life in pioneer days Minnesota style. Extremely economical and educational visit!

mrsdenbob

The Kensington Runestone is housed inside the Runestone Museum in downtown Alexandria, MN. If you aren't a believer in the origins of the Kensington Runestone when you get here, you most likely will be convinced of its authenticity as evidence the Vikings came through central Minnesota in 1362. Especially after seeing it in person and reading about all the recent scientific research that has been done on it.