Blogs & Exhibitions

Welcome to the Odin's Eye Blog! This platform will serve as a source for news and supporting information shared on social media, including press releases. 

You might wonder how the blog got its name. In Old Norse mythology, Mimir is a giant famous for his wisdom. His insights flowed from a well located at the root of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, known as Mimir’s Well. The god Odin coveted Mimir’s wisdom and, in exchange for a share of it, sacrificed one of his eyes as a pledge to Mimir. This act granted Odin the title of the wisest of the gods.

Welcome aboard! This is the main portal of the “New Connections Across the Northern Isles” virtual museum of maritime pasts, presents and futures.

This virtual museum was created with people across the Northern Isles of Scotland as part of our SGSAH-supported PhD project on 'Curating Heritage for Sustainable Communities in Highly Vulnerable Environments: The Case of Scotland’s Northern Isles'

Mimir's Well is a newspaper column in The Orcadian, run by the Institute for Northern Studies. In a light-hearted way, it explores topics relating to Orkney history, dialect, literature, and culture, which have come up in our daily work at the Institute.  Institute for Northern Studies staff are responsible for this column, MLitt and Doctoral students and invited guest writers are often invited to contribute to it.

Launched in 2015 Dr Shane McLeod's blog comprises a list of culturally Scandinavian Viking Age burial (and therefore funeral) sites in modern-day Scotland. Most of the burials included grave-goods and are dated c. 850-950. 

Orkney has never been regarded as an overly religious set of islands, and yet any reading of historical texts will tell you that the Kirk had a strong hand in creating our history.

Did the Kirk actually steering our history in one direction or another?  Why do we not have the same religious affiliations as our Western Islands cousins?  Was the Kirk at all powerful in Orkney?

The organisers of the Changescapes of Recovery Art, Writing, Music & Craft Competition were astounded by the number of high-quality entries. It was incredible to see the amazing range of work produced by people around Orkney over such a challenging year. Judging was very difficult and there were a huge number of entries which could have made it to the final places.

Andrea Freund obtained her PhD with the title “Runic writing in the diaspora: Expression of a Norse identity?”. The project was based at the Institute for Northern Studies with additional supervision at the Centre for Scandinavian Studies in Aberdeen and Orkney Museum. It was funded through an Applied Research Collaborative Studentship from the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities.  In this blog, Andrea discusses her research and anything to do with runes.