Valkyrie in gilded silver in Birka, Sweden. | MUSEUMS KOPI SMYKKER

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German Iron age (400-800 BC.).
Found in gilded silver in Birka, Sweden.
The figure symbolizes the female war spirit, the Valkyrie. Valkyries accompanied royal heroes into war and wore often various masks. E.g. as powerful guardians and advisors on the battlefield, as beautiful maids, offering their love to the warriors and as escorts of dead heroes to Valhalla, where they greeted them with a mug with mead.
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