Kensington Runestone, Runestone in Alexandria, Minnesota, United States

The Kensington Runestone is a rectangular slab of greywacke, a dark gray stone with a rough, uneven surface, measuring about 76 × 41 × 15 cm and weighing roughly 92 kg. Runes are incised in nine rows across the face and three shorter rows along one edge, with the Latin letters "A V M C" among them; the lower edge is broken and jagged, and a tan crusty deposit covers part of the lower left.

Swedish immigrant Olof Öhman reported finding the slab in 1898 while clearing land in Solem Township, Douglas County, and it was later named after Kensington. In 1910 Olaus J. Breda of the University of Minnesota declared it a forgery, and Scandinavian linguists agreed. The Minnesota Historical Society bought it from Öhman in 1911.

The carved text records how travelers from the north sought divine help after a deadly event, mixing a Latin prayer into their rune alphabet. Visitors today read translations on nearby panels that explain the message and its possible connection to early Norse exploration.

The museum stands in downtown Alexandria and displays the stone in a climate-controlled room with information panels around it. Visitors find parking nearby and can view all exhibits in about half an hour.

The inscription mixes runic characters with the Latin capitals "AVM", an abbreviation of Ave Maria, carved among the runes near the middle-right of the face. The text also uses pentadic numerals for its figures, such as 8, 22 and 1362, rather than spelling the numbers out in runes.