#  From Constantinople to the North 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **November 20, 2026** 

 06:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **The Royal Norwegian Embassy, Washington DC**  



 

 [ Pre-registration link arrow\_circle\_right ](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJrXEkCmcABjYIX4G3DJuB9NMeWSUcW79m9w_5syqlf3iCmw/viewform) 

 



 

Svein Harald Gullbekk (University of Oslo), *From Constantinople to the North: Harald Hardrada and the Making of Norway’s First Currency.* This talk is offered in conjunction with Dr. Eurydice Georganteli’s seminar HAA 174, “The King’s Money: Power, Art, and Economy in the Global Middle Ages.” It is part of *Metals, Minerals, and the Life Cycle*, a research partnership between Harvard University and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, and is offered in collaboration with the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection and the Royal Norwegian Embassy with the generous support of the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities. Seating for this event is limited; those interested in attending should follow the link above by **Tuesday, 20 October 2026**; a formal invitation from the Norwegian Embassy, including RSVP details, will follow.

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*This lecture presents, for the first time to an American audience, the ongoing research on the Mørstad hoard, the largest Viking Age coin hoard ever discovered in Norway. Found in spring 2026 by metal detectorists working in collaboration with archaeologists, and comprising over 5,000 coins dated from c. 975 to c. 1050, the hoard offers an extraordinary window onto the political, economic, and material transformations set in motion by King Harald Hardrada’s (Harald Sigurdsson) return to Scandinavia after fifteen years of service in the Byzantine emperor's elite Varangian Guard. Tracing Harald Hardrada's pivotal role in shaping Scandinavian coinage and monetary culture, the lecture will explore how metals and the knowledge embedded in them traveled, transformed, and took root across cultural communities and political systems. The lecture will close with a look ahead to the new* [*Museum of the Viking Age*](https://www.vikingtidsmuseet.no/english/) *in Oslo, scheduled to open in late 2027, which will rank among the world’s largest institutions devoted to Viking history and culture. Its flagship displays, including the Oseberg and Gokstad ships and a dedicated gallery on early Norwegian monetary history, will bring this material to a global public in new and powerful ways.*



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Off Campus ](/events/campus)
- [ Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection ](/events/dumbarton-oaks-research-library-and-collection)
- [ Byzantine Studies ](/events/byzantine-studies)
- [ History of Art & Architecture ](/events/history-art-architecture)
 
 

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