The slave from Dorestad

Learn more about the slave from Dorestad.

A group of volunteers help us with the task of decorating the inside walls in the Ansgar Church. This summer, Michael Horn joined the team for a couple of weeks. Just like the other interpreters in Ribe VikingeCenter each have a role and a place in the story we tell about Viking Ripa, Michael also got his.

And so he became the slave from Dorestad, who was brought to Ripa by Erling, the slave trader. Apparently, Michael had been working on different church buildings down south, and his skills were of course relevant to the church in Ripa where he was given a brush and some paint.

In Ribe VikingeCenter we are currently recreating the church room in the Ansgar Church as it very well might have looked like in the 9th century. The early churches were full of colourful illustrations of biblical events, which served as an effective communication of the Christian religion. That is why we are having 50 carolingian style scenes from the Bible painted on the walls of the Ansgar Church.