Western fortress of the Slavs Slavenburg. Slavic Germany

Museum in the Raddush fortress. Slavic finds. July 30th, 2012

Inside a reconstructed Slavic fortress from the 9th-10th centuries. Raddush is located quite large and interesting museum, which presents the entire long and rich story these places starting from primitive hunters and collectors and ending with the Middle Ages. Of particular interest were the collections of ancient Slavic finds and more ancient Lusatian culture.

Models of the Raddush fortress.

and reconstruction of its surroundings

Of particular interest is a wooden piece found during excavations of the well, interpreted by archaeologists as an “idol.” Indeed, items very similar in style were found during excavations of pagan temples in Gross Raden, Parchim in Mecklenburg and the sanctuary in Ralsvik on Rügen. The part did not contain any images or carvings, except for a through hole in the center, which, according to archaeologists, served to secure this part. Top part resembles a human head and neck, but rather conventionally. It's hardly an idol literally This word is rather a detail of decoration of some building, quite possibly a pagan temple. In the background is another detail with a through hole and recesses of unknown purpose, also found during excavations of the well.

Also in the museum there was a lot of ceramics of the Tornov type, among which one pot deserves special attention. This is another rare example of applying not standard ornaments to Slavic ceramics, but detailed scenes. also known from Mecklenburg. Some researchers suggest that such ceramics could be used for special rituals, “witchcraft,” while others see in it only ordinary everyday scenes. Be that as it may, the find is quite rare.

The next find is interpreted as a “detail of a carved tray.”

Rare finds from the Raddush fortress include a bucket skillfully decorated with metal. Similar buckets are known in other Western Slavic lands, mainly from burials. Original and reconstruction.

The museum's exhibition also displays many agricultural and craft tools and household items such as sickles, ladles, keys, combs or knives. I did not dwell on them in more detail.

Women's jewelry.

Reconstruction of one of the types of ancient Slavic mounds.

Figures labeled "toys" in the museum. Although, with the same success they could be ritual figurines, of which many are known in the Slavic lands.

Wax tablet and styluses. Unfortunately the century was not signed.

Museum of Ancient Slavic Architecture - "Slawenburg-Raddusch" from a bird's eye view.

Construction of the castle began in 1999

Mannequins in the museum depicting ancient Slavs

Archaeological finds. Museum exposition.

Well

On the ramparts there is a wide fenced battle area
on the outside we make wattle from willow branches.
From here it opens wide view to the Lusatian landscape.

» article Western fortress of the Slavs - Slawenburg. Where we will tell you about one of the westernmost fortresses of the Slavs, located in Germany. A little history, and, of course, photographs.

The Western fortress of the Slavs - Slawenburg is located in the ancient Slavic village of Raddusch, on the banks of the Spree River, in the Serbian-Lusatian region of Germany - Dolnaya Lusatia - Niederlausitz - federal state of Brandenburg. Now there is a museum of ancient Slavic architecture - “Slawenburg-Raddusch”. It was opened in 2001 in the immediate vicinity of the village of Radush, on the site of an ancient Slavic round castle found during the development of brown coal in the late 80s of the 20th century.

Previously, it was the Slavic city-vara Dolna Luzhitsa (9th century AD). The fortress is one of about forty Slavic round defensive structures that originally existed in Lower Lusatia. These fortresses were built by the Slavs - the ancestors of modern Lusatians - in the 9th-10th centuries. n. e. and served as shelters for the population living nearby.

The high concentration of these fortresses in Lower Lusatia is associated with constant pressure from the Germans in this region. The fortress was built from wooden blocks, and a ditch filled with water was dug around it. The internal cavities of the wooden structure were filled with sand, earth and clay.

The museum is a reconstructed Slavic castle, which is a fortress 50 m in diameter with a vast interior space (1,200 sq. m).

The round shaft-wall, 8 m high, is made of interlocking oak trunks, laid in layers, the spaces between which are filled with sand and clay. Similar round fortresses were characteristic buildings for the ancient Slavs living in what is now Germany.

The modern structure was made using technology very close to the technology of the medieval original. Inside there is a museum where the exhibition “Archaeology in Lower Lusatia” is presented, a conference room and a restaurant. The exhibition covers the last 12,000 years of the region's history.

The ancient Slavs, during the “Great Migration,” came to the lands of modern Saxony in the 6th century AD. Today it is not possible to reconstruct the events of the settlement of these places. It is assumed that where the Slavs crossed the Elbe (Laba), they met with Germanic tribes and established good neighborly relations with them. The Slavs at that time represented several ethnic groups.

According to modern history, approximately from the end of the 6th to the middle of the 13th century AD. the east, north and north-west of modern Germany were inhabited large group Western Slavic tribes Lusatians, Lyutichs, Bodrichis, Pomorians and Ruyans, who are now called Polabian Slavs. These tribes, say orthodox historians, in the second half of the 6th century were replaced by the “Germanic” tribes of the Lombards, Rugians, Lugii, Chizobrads, Varins, Velets and others who lived here in ancient times.

However, many researchers argue that there is “an amazing coincidence of the tribal names of the Polabian, Pomeranian and other Western Slavs with the oldest ethnic names known in the area at the turn of the first centuries AD” mentioned in Roman sources. Total of such paired, matching ancient and medieval Slavic names There are about fifteen known tribes that lived in this area. This means that the Slavs lived in Germany at least from these very first centuries.

Most of the Western Slavic tribes suffered an unenviable fate. At the beginning of the 10th century, the German Drang nach Osten (campaign to the East) began, during which the Western Slavs were partly driven out of their lands, partly converted to Christianity and assimilated, and most of they were simply exterminated during Crusades against the Western Slavs.

Raddush has long lost its defensive significance, but even at the beginning of the 20th century it was clearly recognizable as a ring-shaped wooden structure. During the existence of the German Democratic Republic The remains of the fortress were supposed to be demolished in connection with the planned mining of brown coal. In connection with preparations for this in 1984 and 1989/1990. were held here archaeological excavations, and an idol about 1,100 years old was discovered.

To the east of the Elbe (Laba) and Saale (Zalava) lived the Slavs - the Obodrites, Lutichians, Serbs and Lusatians. Serbs and Vilchans settled in the Anhalt region. The Slavs lived in tribal communities. The Slavs of that period had highly developed crafts, military and commercial affairs. The residential areas were divided into fields and fields with a length of 10-20 kilometers along rivers, lakes and valleys. As a rule, a family fortress was built in the center, which was surrounded by several dozen residential and commercial courtyards with land plots of various sizes.

Currently, hundreds of Slavic round fortresses are known in East Germany. About 40 Slavic fortresses are known in the areas where the Saale River flows; more than 100 fortresses are located in the area between the Elbe (Laba), Saale (Zalava) and Oder (Vodra) rivers. The building material of all these Slavic castles, as in the case of the Slawenburg-Raddusch settlement, are wooden logs and earth...

The original castle in Radusha had a diameter of 58 meters and was surrounded by a moat 5.5 meters wide. It had two gates within seven-meter walls. In the castle courtyard there was a wooden log well 14 meters deep and various residential and outbuildings. On the ramparts there is a wide battle area fenced on the outside with a fence of willow branches. From here you have a wide view of the Lusatian landscape.

Slavic museums in Europe.

Gross Raden . .

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Dolna Luzica, castle in Radusha, fed. Land of Brandenburg.

Museum of Ancient Slavic Architecture "Slawenburg-Raddusch" Dolna Lusatia - Germany.

In the ancient Slavic village of Raddusch, on the banks of the Spree River, in the Serbian-Lusatian region of Germany - Dolnaya Lusatia - Niederlausitz - fed. Land of Brandenburg, there is a museum of ancient Slavic architecture - "Slawenburg-Raddusch". It was opened in 2001 in the immediate vicinity of the village of Radush, on the site of an ancient Slavic round castle, found during the development of brown coal in the late 80s of the 20th century.

The museum is a reconstructed Slavic castle, which is a fortress more than 50 m in diameter, with a vast interior space (1,200 sq. m). The round shaft-wall, up to 8 m high, is made of interlocking oak trunks, laid in layers, the spaces between which are filled with sand and clay,was surrounded by a ditch 5.5 meters wide.There are two gates in the walls. In the castle courtyard there was a wooden log well, 14 m deep, and various residential and utility buildings.Similar round fortresses were characteristic buildings for the ancient Slavs living in what is now Germany.

The Slavic castle museum "Slawenburg-Raddusch" is located in the federal district. Brandenburg, about 100 km. south of Berlin, in the district of Niederlausitz.

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Bird's eye view .

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General form .

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Wall .

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Gates .

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On the ramparts there is a wide battle platform .

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In the museum .

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Driving directions .

http://rexstar.ru/content/id6410

SLAVIC TEMPLE IN GROSS RADEN - Gross Raden (BODRICHI - GERMANY).

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Reconstruction of the Slavic temple in Gross-Raden. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

In Germany, on ter-and modern fed. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern remained archaeological sites Slavs, such as the ramparts of castles - Mecklenburg, Dobin-Dobin, Ilov-Ilow, Kvitzin-Quetzin, Teterow-Teterow, Werle-Werle and many others, which are witnesses of the period when these lands were owned by the Slavs.

After World War II, archaeologists and historians from the GDR did a lot to study the archeology of the Baltic Slavs. Especially Professor Ewald Schuldt. In 1973, extensive research began on the site of the Obodrit settlement in Gross-Raden. The results of his excavations and research surpassed everything so far found in Bodričany - Mecklenburg.

During the excavations, which continued until the beginning of the 80s, many artifacts related to the Bodrichi-Obodrit culture were collected, and a Slavic pagan temple was discovered. Shortly before 1987, the state government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on the site of the excavated Gross-Raden castle, began construction of a museum of ancient Slavic architecture, where, according to excavation materials, the fortifications of the castle, a pagan temple, and a residential area were recreated in detail.

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Gross-Raden .

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View from the lake.

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Gross-Raden .

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Gates .

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General view of the buildings.

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Fortifications.

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Residential area.

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Idol.

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Posad gate tower.

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Type of settlement .

http://rexstar.ru/content/id6411

Slavic Museum "Ukranenland" in the city of Torgelow (Vorpommern. Germany).

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Ukraine - Western Pomerania .

Ukrainians, Ukrainians, Ukrans are a West Slavic tribe that settled in the 6th century. AD, lived on the territory of modern East Germany - between the Elbe and Oder rivers, where they built their settlements and fortresses. The lands that once belonged to the Slavs are today called Uckermark - in the east of the modern German federation. lands - Brandenburg.

German historians believe that the later name "Ukera" or "Terra Ukera" means "borderland". The town of Torgelow in the federation. Western Pomerania - located on the Uecker River. There is located the museum "Ukranenland", dedicated to the Slavs who lived in the lands of East Germany 10 centuries ago.

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Ukraineland .

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Ukraineland .

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Houses in the settlement.

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Museum Pier .

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Marina .

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Temple .

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Residential building and household the buildings .

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House .

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Corral .

http://rexstar.ru/content/id6412

Slavic village-museum Düppel. Das Museumsdorf Düppel.

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Slavic village-museum Düppel .

In the 7th-12th centuries, 2 Slavic families lived in the Berlin region, in German transcription - Heveller (Gavolians) and Sprewanen (Spreyans). The Slavs of the Sprean - Sprewanen family lived on both sides of the Spree River, on Barnim and Osteltow. The people of the Gavolian-Heveller family lived between Spandau and Brandenburg (Branibor).

After the end of World War 2, extensive archaeological research began in the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. As a result, dozens of large Slavic settlements, villages and castles were discovered, built by the Slavs who lived on these lands in the 7th-12th centuries.

Castles are powerful ring-shaped fortifications made of wooden logs and earth, with ramparts up to 10 or more meters high. The villages located around the castles consisted mainly of one or two storey houses of the log-block type ( the logs were stacked horizontally in the log house).

The powerful castles of Köpenik and Branibor were not only important military outposts, but also had important trade and political significance. Intensive Slavic trade allowed both castles to grow so much in the 10th-11th centuries that they transformed from military fortifications into full-fledged cities, with large craft settlements. In addition to large cities, there were quite a lot of smaller castles.Most of them were destroyed during the German expansion of the 10th-12th centuries...

A reconstruction of a typical Lyutich village of that time can be seen in Berlin Museum Museumsdorfes Düppel. In 1940, in the southwest of Berlin in the Zehlendorf district, in the town of Düppel, the remains of a medieval settlement were found. As a result of excavations carried out in 1968, it turned out that this is a village that existed around 1200. At the same time, the idea arose to restore the village and make it accessible to visitors as a museum. This is how the Düppel Village Museum appeared in 1975. On an area of ​​8 hectares, based on archaeological finds, buildings were reconstructed, as well as household equipment and tools.

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Slavic village-museum .

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Residential building - reconstruction .

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Life .

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Forge .

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Household the buildings .

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Gates .

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Düppel .

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Museum D ü ppel .

http://rexstar.ru/content/id6413

Architectural Museum "Oldenburger Wallmuseum" (Vagria - Schleswig-Holstein. Germany).

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Reconstruction model of Starygard. Large Slavic city, capital of Vagria - Stargrad - Oldenburg - Modern German reconstruction .

Chronicler Adam of Bremen called the city of Vagrov the capitalStarigard (Aldinborg), located in eastern Holstein on the southern Baltic coast. This is the area between Lubeck and Kiel, near the island of Fehmarn (Fembre), and for the chroniclerAldinborg - Starigard - The largest city, capital of the Vagrs.

Archaeological excavations 1953-58 and 1973-86. have shown that the ramparts of Starigard have existed since the beginning of the 8th century ( the oldest settlement on this site dates back to approximately 680). In ancient times it was a powerful military and commercial center. In the second half of the 10th century, Starigard lost its importance as a capital and came into the possession of the Archbishopric of Hamburg. The city later received the German name Aldinborg or Oldenburg .

The ramparts of the old settlement are located on the outskirts of the town. In some areas their height reaches up to 18 m. The castle was an oval-shaped fortress, about 220 m long and 100 m wide. In 1988, not far from the ramparts of Starigard, a Archaeological Museum, with a rich collection and reconstruction of the life of ancient townspeople.

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Ramparts of the old fortification .

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Ramparts of the fortress .

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View of the gate .

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On the island there is a reconstruction of a Slavic temple.

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Reconstruction of the Slavic city .

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This is what a Slavic idol might have looked like .

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Slavic idol 11-13 centuries. Found near Neubrandenburg .

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In the museum .

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Found Frankish sword of master Ulfberth .

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Bronze temporal rings .

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pier .

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Map - diagram . *Black background: 680 - 700, the oldest Slavic fortress with an open settlement in front of the fortress. *Blue background: second floor. 8th century. Expansion of Oldenburg into a large fortress. Transfer of the princely court to the site of the former settlement. *Blue background: after 1227, the reconstruction of the ruins of the Slavic fortress into the powerful princely fortress of the Count of Holstein.

http://zelomir.livejournal.com/748.html
http://varing.livejournal.com/79392.html#cutid1

Reconstruction of an ancient Slavic settlement in Wolin.

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Wolin - gate .

Wolin (Polish Wolin, German Wollin) is a city in Poland, on the island of Wolin, at the mouth of the Oder (Odra). It is part of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Kamieński County. Covers an area of ​​14.41 km². The history of the city begins with the settlement of the island of Wolin by Western Slavs around the 8th century. AD

The settlement of the Slavic Volinians (Volynians) on the island of Wolin was mentioned in the 9th century by the “Bavarian Geographer”. Adam of Bremen in the 11th century. called Volin - “Yumne”. In the X-XII centuries. Volin was a major craftsman and shopping center, where the paths of merchants from Byzantium, Asia, Friesland, Rus' and from the Western Slavic regions, located on the southern shore of the Baltic, converged. Ebbon of Reims in 1126 and the monk of Priflingen in the “Life of Otto” (XII century), call Wolin - “Julin”.

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Wolin - fortifications .

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Homes and households the buildings .

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Life .

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At home .

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Pagan sanctuary .

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Interior view of the fortress .

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Residential buildings - reconstruction .

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Wolin - settlement .

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Settlement - life .

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Reconstruction of houses .

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Reconstruction of houses .

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The pier with ships has also been recreated. This is an exact reconstruction of the ship found in Ralsvik on Rügen, made in Gross Raden .

It is known that fortified settlements in the territory medieval Rus' have existed since the days Bronze Age. In the second half of the first millennium BC, the number of fortified settlements increased significantly compared to unprotected ones.

It should be noted that, like the early ones, they sat on the tops of hills or high along the banks on a bend in the river (island or simple cape) and that their defenses consisted of ditches and ramparts topped with primitive wooden walls (mostly palisades). Many of these pre-Slavic fortified settlements were subsequently used by the Slavs, who usually modernized them by increasing the height of the fortress walls and erecting new wooden walls on them.

The earliest authentic Slavic settlements date back to the 6th century AD. Most Slavic settlements in the 6th and 7th centuries were not fortified, but the situation quickly changed in the 8th century. It was implemented a large number of settlements protected not only by relief, but also by artificial defensive structures (ditches, ramparts, palisades). On the outskirts of these fortresses one can often find several impregnable settlements, which means that they served as residences for tribal leaders.

The main threat to the southern Russian lands from the 10th to the 12th centuries was represented by nomadic warriors. From the first half of the 10th century to the first half of the 11th century they were Pechenegs, and from the middle of the 11th century - Polovtsians. The Pechenegs crossed the Volga and invaded the lands north of the Black Sea at the end of the 10th century. They settled within the southern borders, making regular raids into its territory to capture booty and prisoners.

The first clash between Russians and Pechenegs occurred in 915. For more than a century (until 1036), the Pechenegs continuously attacked Rus'; in 968 they even besieged and almost captured Kyiv, the capital of Ancient Rus'.

The Cumans turned out to be an equally deadly enemy and first appeared on the southeastern borders of Russia in 1055. At the end of the 1060s, the Cumans staged a large-scale invasion of Russian lands, and in last decade centuries, not a single year passed without their attack.

The bulk of the nomadic armies consisted of irregular cavalry. They did not know how to properly lay siege to fortified places, and rarely did so; when they waged a siege, they rarely achieved success. Nomadic warriors rarely raided enemy territory, fearing that the garrisons of any Russian fortress in the rear would attack them from behind or cut off their escape route. Lines of fortresses were built along the main border rivers such as the Sula, Stugna, Ros, Trubezh, and Desna.

Another line of fortifications stretched on both sides of the Dnieper, from the Ros River to Kyiv. These fortresses formed a second line of defense and were able to warn the capital in advance about the breakthrough of enemy hordes. Fortresses were also built along routes of potential enemy movement. In addition to them, extensive fortification lines were also created - the Serpentine Ramparts, which we will discuss in the following articles.