The Jorvik Viking Centre in York, UK, has reopened to the public following a £1m refurbishment.

An entirely new gallery has been added and the replica of a Viking-age village has been upgraded. A number of new artefacts, discovered during diggings at the city's Coppergate district, have also gone on show.

Sarah Maltby, director of attractions at York Archaeological Trust, which operates the site, said: "The main thrust of the refurbishment this time is to make a reassessment of the archaeology at Coppergate from which the centre grew over 25 years ago.

"This enables us to relook at who the Vikings were, why they came here, and what evidence they left for us to piece together to determine what we think Viking-Age York looked like.

The main contractor for the project was RMA, while other companies involved in the project included Ohio, US-based Life Formations (animatronics) and Clockwork Digital (AV presentations).

The project has taken nine months to complete with the onsite build taking place between November 2009 and February 2010.

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