According to the Saga of Erik the Red it was at a site called Brattahlid (Qassiarsuk, near Narsaq) that in the year 1000 AD, the first little Christian chapel was constructed in the New World of which Greenland is a part. It took until the 1960s before it was rediscovered by archaeologists from the National Museum of Greenland and the Narsaq Museum.
To commemorate the Millennium, in 1999 a reconstruction was built in a project called “Saga & Storytelling”. It was named after Tjodhilde, the first (Viking) lady who converted to Christianity while being in the New World. This lady has many saga stories dedicated to her. The reconstruction site also gives room for a longhouse reconstruction, called “Langgaard” with stone walls and sod roof. This house depicts the period of Erik the Red shortly after first Vikings had landed in America. He was forced to sail west after having been exiled from Iceland.
The reconstructed church and farmstead serve also modern goals. It is emphasised that the people in Greenland, together with their Inuit kin in Northern Canada have centuries of experience with cross-cultural conflict resolution. Their vision is that in the years ahead, Tjodhilde's Church and the forum to which it now has given rise will become an instrument of bridge-building, understanding and peace.
