AN exciting exhibition featuring the lives and legends of the Vikings will be screened live from the British Museum at The Courtyard tonight at 7pm.

This is the first major exhibition at the British Museum on the Vikings for more than 30 years and has been developed with the National Museum of Denmark and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, focusing on the core period of the Viking Age from the late eighth century to the early 11th century.

The exhibition will feature many new archaeological discoveries and objects never seen before in the UK alongside important Viking Age artefacts from the British Museum’s own collection and elsewhere in Britain and Ireland.

New interpretations place warfare and warrior identity at the centre of what it means to be a Viking; cultural contact was often violent, and the transportation of looted goods and slaves reflects the role of Vikings as both raiders and traders. This exhibition will be the first in The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, part of the new World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre that opens later this year. Jewellery, weapons and looted treasures will be some of the artefacts discussed in this live exhibition.

Vikings Live from the British Museum can be seen today at 7pm. To book, or for further information, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk

A specific screening for schools will be held on Tuesday, June 3 at 1.30pm.