The Viking Ship Hall, the oldest part of the museum, was opened in 1969. It was designed as a large showcase to display the five Viking ships found at Skuldelev. The hall also houses special temporary exhibitions and a cinema, where a film about the excavation of the ships is shown.
Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important fairway and to protect Roskilde from enemy attack from the sea. These ships, later known as the Skuldelev ships, were excavated in 1962. They turned out to be five different types of ships ranging from cargo ships to ships of war.

The Viking Ship Museum overlooks Roskilde Fjord and was built in 1969 especially to exhibit the five newly discovered ships.[1] In the late 1990s excavations for an expansion of the museum uncovered a further 9 ships including the longest Viking warship ever discovered, at 36 metres

An extension to the museum, Museum Island, was opened in 1997. The museum boatyard, where visitors can watch shipwrights at work, is located on the island. The Activity Centre, where the School Service is housed, is also found here.

The large collection of traditional Nordic wooden boats is berthed at the harbour on Museum Island. Here you will also find the five reconstructions of the Skuldelev ships. Many of the vessels were built at the museum boatyard, which also maintains them.