In the light of all this, one cannot help asking oneself how all these goals have been achieved. What qualities does one have to have, as a person and leader, to make this possible? Research abilities and the capacity to inspire colleagues and donors are two evident answers, but there is a third which is probably just as important: the ability to share both leadership responsibility and influence on the shape of the research profile. By transferring the leadership of first the Viking Ship Museum and later the Institute of Maritime Archaeology to others, Ole has managed to avoid the fossilisation which often threatens large organisations and to replace it with renewed vitality. New, capable people could take their turn at the tiller and contribute significantly to determining the course and the forms of cooperation. The variety and diversity which has thus come to be a feature of the work carried out in Roskilde is one of the most important reasons for this being such an inspiring place to work. Let us hope it remains so in the decades to come.
In addition to describing the extension of the Viking Ship Museum, this edition of the Newsletter also includes the second article in the series on maritime archaeological survey methods. A new series, with the title "New pictures of old ships", is also launched, with two articles, one about a signet from Roskilde, and the other about a newly-discovered mural painting in Voldby Church. In addition to being valuable sources for parts of ships which are seldom preserved for archaeologists to find, the depictions of ships are also an expression of the symbolic meaning of the ship in the society of the time - an exciting perspective, which in each of these cases of new finds has significance for its interpretation. And a concrete expression of the breadth of the research-field which we are trying to cover from the institutions in Roskilde, and which this Newsletter attempts to describe, by presenting a glimpse of topical activities to a larger public. Happy reading.