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Completed  in 2001, the Hopperstad Stave Church Replica in Moorhead, Minnesota, stands as a testament to Norwegian culture and heritage in the Midwest. It serves as an educational tool in the local community and is operated by Clay County’s Historical and Cultural Society. The museum is also home to the Hjemkomst Viking Ship, a replica of a 9^th century Norwegian Viking Ship built by local schoolteacher Robert Asp and sailed from Minnesota to Norway in 1982 as his dying wish.

Markus Krueger, our speaker, is the Programming Director for the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County. He began volunteering as a tour guide at the museum 17 years ago while studying medieval art and architecture at Minnesota State University Moorhead. After completing his studies, he was hired as a  member of the museum staff. He is a descendent of Scandinavian immigrants and grew up as the son of a Lutheran pastor in some of the most heavily Norwegian communities in America. Thus Markus has been steeped in Scandinavian American culture his whole life. We welcome him as our guide through the Hopperstad repilca stave church.

Our virtual tour through Moorhead’s Hopperstad Stave Church will touch on what makes Norway’s stave churches so unique in the world of architecture, why this church was recreated in Fargo-Moorhead, how the Vikings converted to Christianity, the Medieval church, the Protestant Reformation, America’s Scandinavian heritage, and whatever else time allows. Like Livsreise, the museum at Moorhead’s Hjemkomst Center is an international destination for people interested in Norwegian American culture.