A Study on the Viking Route Heritage Sites in Russia

100 Pages·2011·21.528 MB·English

by  Dan Carlsson, Adrian Selin

A STUDY ON THE VIKING ROUTE HERITAGE SITES IN RUSSIA
The Northern Dimension Partnership of Culture (NCDP)
By Dan Carlsson and Adrian Selin
This project is funded by
the European Union
Front page photos displaying some of the Viking
objects found at Stararya Ladoga. Below, a horse
comb from Gnezdovo. Photo Dan Carlsson.
Content report Viking Routes Russia
PART I
1. INTRODUCTION 5
Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture 5
The mission 5
About the report 6
2. SCANDINAVIAN RUSSIAN VIKING HISTORY A short compilation 9
The Viking World 9
The Eastern Connection 11
Trade routes and towns 12
Assimilation 14
3. MEDIATION OF VIKING HISTORY 15
Exhibitions, museums and re-enactment 15
Leaflets, guidebooks, signposts 18
The question of language 19
The unknown history 19
4.MANAGEMENT OF SITES AND HISTORY 21
Who is doing what? 21
Maintenance of sites. Visibility and accessibility 21
Signposts and infrastructure 25
5.VIKING HISTORY AND TOURISM 27
Programme of tour operators 29
Individual or groups 29
Common knowledge 31
6.SUGGESTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT 33
Strengths and weaknesses 33
Suggestions for development 34
Selection of sites 36
7.FURTHER READINGS - A LIST OF LITERATURE 39
8. LIST OF CONTACTS 43

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PART II Description of sites
VIKING SITES IN RUSSIA 45
Introduction 45
Staraya Ladoga 47
Novgorod and Gorodishche 53
Pskov and Izborsk 63
Smolensk and Gnezdovo 71
Rostov and Sarskoye hill fort 77
Jaroslavl, Timerevo and Petrovskoe 83
Belozersk/ Beloozero 87
Kurkijoki 95
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INTRODUCTION
Northern Dimension Partnership on
Culture
for cultural tourism, with places like The Viking
The Northern Dimension (ND) is a common policy
Ship Museum in Oslo, The Hedeby museum in
of the EU, Russia, Norway and Iceland, with
Germany and the ship museum in Roskilde,
Belarus also playing an increasingly important role
Denmark, as well-known examples. Many of the
in the cooperation. ND was first initiated in 1999,
sites are on the world Heritage list, like L’Ans aux
and it gained new momentum after the adoption of
Meadows at Newfoundland, Canada, the Viking
a revised ND Action Plan in 2006. ND is based on
town Birka in Sweden, the Viking Ship Museum in
the principle of equal partnership among the
Oslo, Norway, as well as the famous stave churches
partners.
in Norway.
The cooperation takes place in the form of
While many of the Viking settlements in
meetings of senior representatives from the
Northern Europe already exist as heritage sites, less
participating countries as well as in the four
is known about the Viking Route heritage sites
partnerships: The ND Environmental Partnership
located in Russia and the information available on
(NDEP), the ND Partnership for Public Health and
them is largely available in the Russian language.
Social Well-being (NDPHS), the ND Partnership for
The NDPC Steering Committee has therefore
Transport and Logistics (NDPTL) and the ND
decided that a study on the Viking heritage sites in
Partnership for Culture (NDPC).
Russia is needed, in order to have an overview of
The NDPC is one of the newer partnerships. Its
the sites and information on their state and
preparation started in 2008. In May 2010 a
development needs. Eventually the heritage sites
Memorandum of Understanding was signed
located in Russia could be connected with those
between the participating countries and an NDPC
located in other countries in order to complete the
Action Plan was submitted to the ND Ministerial
Viking Route.
Meeting in November 2010. The Partnership
Besides being well taken care of, many sites are
became operational in January 2011, and it has a
direct focal points for tourism, and part of
small secretariat hosted by the Nordic Council of
international visits, not at least the ship museums
Ministers in Copenhagen. The NDPC also has a
in Denmark and Norway, visited by huge number
Steering Committee, which is composed of
of tourists from all over the world. But it has to be
representatives of the participating countries and
concluded that the tourist side of the Viking
which meets regularly. For more information on
heritage is to a very high degree a Western
the NDPC and its activities see;
European phenomenon. It can clearly be seen as a
www.ndpculture.org.
biased picture, while the Eastern side of the Baltic
Sea to a very high degree was a part of the Viking
history, not at least the rivers leading down to
The mission
Black Sea and Caspian Sea. This bias was noticed
The NDPC Steering Committee has identified
already while compiling the Council of Europe
Viking heritage as a topic of common interest for
cultural route - Viking route, and it was foreseen
the participating countries. While the Viking Route
that with better knowledge of sites in Russia and
is an important European cultural route, it has been
other areas in Eastern Europe, the selection of sites
largely dormant. The Route offers potential for the
should be revised.
development of cultural tourism across the borders
The main objectives of the assignment is to map
in the Northern Dimension area, and is therefore of
and give an account of the Viking Route heritage
interest for the NDPC .
sites located in Russia, to reveal the most
The background to this initiative is that Viking
important of them and to analyse their status
heritage has long been of common interest in
today when it comes to maintenance, marketing
Western Europe, as well as in Canada, as a resource
and open up for tourism, as well as conclude what
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would be needed in order to develop the Viking description of Vikings in Russia, as a background
Route’s potential for international cultural tourism for further discussions and suggestions. The
and to combine it into existing Viking Routes. It is following chapters is a compilation of impressions
also important to indicate the readiness of local and reflections from our visit to the different sites,
stockholders to develop this sites as sites of Viking building upon the presentation in the catalogue of
heritage. the sites. The report concludes with a chapter on
suggestions for development of the theme Vikings
The specific objectives of this assignment are: in Russia. Finally, there is a list of literature dealing
with Vikings in Russia for further readings, and
1) to prepare a study on the present conditions of persons contacted.
the Viking Route heritage sites located in Russia,
including at least the following information: The mission has been carried out in three steps. The
first step dealt with the general history of Vikings
• list of the sites and a map presenting in Russia, compiling background information, and
their geographical location create a foundation for the field work, being the
• an analysis of the historical importance next step. The field work was done at two periods,
of the sites during 17 days in June, and the same number of
• information on the present condition of days in August. During the field work most known
the sites and their tangible and sites of Viking history in Northwest Russia were
intangible assets and the possibilities to
make use of these assets
• the administrative bodies of the sites
and their possible plans to develop the
sites
• accessibility to the sites (by road, rail,
water, air etc.)
• information on the currently available
services for tourists at the sites offered
by local authorities and/or enterprises
2) to provide suggestions on how the Viking
heritage sites located in Russia could be further
developed to attract and serve international
cultural tourism.
About the report
The report is divided in two parts, as a result of the
main goals of the mission. One part consists of a
compilation of information on each site visited
during a months travel in Russia, carried out in
June and August 2011. The description of each site
follow the same manner, and is following up the
main questions in point 1 of the specific objectives
of the report. This part is more or less a narrative
report, putting together some basic information Figure 1. A Viking sword from the middle of the 10th
century, found at Gnezdovo, probably from the island of
about the site, complemented by maps,
Gotland, Sweden. Bent and broken before putting into a
photographs and other information.
burial-mound. Excavations of the Moscow State
The second part of the report gives initially a
University 1950. From Smolensk State Reserve
short introduction to the Viking world, and a brief
Museum.
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visited. Visiting the sites meant to both visit the
site, and to meet representatives from local
administration, responsible for the historical site,
and as far as possible also tourist organisations.
The area covered include almost all sites of
importance in northwest Russia; from Smolensk
and Gnezdovo in the south, to Karelia in the north.
As a background material for our report, as well as
for future work inside NDPC, information material,
as well as tourist brochure, have been collected,
and a huge number of photographs taken of each
site.
Dan Carlsson Adrian Selin
Associate Professor Professor
Gotland University St Petersburg Branch
Sweden National Research
University - High School of
Economic Russia
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THE VIKING WORLD
The Viking World
In the year AD789, three strange ships
arrived at Portland on the southern coast of
England, and Beaduheard, the reeve of the
King of Wessex, rode out to meet them. He
took with him only a small band of men
under the mistaken impression that the
strangers were traders: ”and they slew
him...” records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
tersely. It adds, with over a century of grim
hindsight, ”those were the first ships [of
Northmen] which came to the land of the
English”.
In June of the year 793 ”the ravages of
heathen men miserably destroyed God’s
church on Lindisfarne with plunder and
slaughter”. The Christian monastic sites of
Jarrow and Ionas, lying on Britain’s
Figure 2. The Viking world, expansions and travels. The map shows
exposed northern coasts, were looted in the
the main influenced areas by Vikings from Norway, Denmark and
years immediately afterwards. In 795 Sweden, where the Eastern route is very much connected to Vikings
raiders were recorded near Dublin, and in from Sweden and Gotland, even if we know that Norwegian Vikings
799 on the coast of South-west France. As also were involved in the Eastern route.
far as we know this was all the work of
Norwegian Vikings. The first raids by
stole and extorted massive quantities of silver and
Danes in the west were on Frisia and, in 834, the
gold from their victims. And yet they also took an
thriving and populous trading centre of Dorestad
active part in the development of successful
on the Rhine estuary was attacked.
commercial centres from York to Novgorod and
This was the beginning of a period of history
Kiev, colonised lands in the North Atlantic and
known to us as the Viking Age, normally dated to
formed powerful states.
around AD 800 - 1050, when Scandinavian peoples
To be a Viking was strictly to be a pirate (from
from the modern countries of Denmark, Norway
the Old Norse Vikingr, a pirate or raider) but it is
and Sweden influenced much of Northern and
misleading to describe more then three centuries of
Eastern Europe and beyond. They travelled further
Northern history as an age of raiders. Scandi-
than Europeans had ever gone before and
navians were undoubtedly responsible for great
established a network of communications over
changes during the Viking Age, many of which
great distances. They exploited the riches of the
were beneficial. By colonising the North Atlantic
East and explored the uncharted waters of North
islands they extended the frontiers of Europe, while
Atlantic. They settled as farmers in the barren
elsewhere they played a significant part in
Western lands of Greenland and discovered
reshaping political structures. As traders they made
America five hundred years before Columbus.
a positive contribution, mainly by stimulating
They were part of the development of the Russian
commerce and encouraging the growth of towns,
state, and they served as mercenaries at the court of
as in Russia.
Byzantium.
Whether as colonisers, traders or warriors,
They ravaged Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms,
Scandinavians reached almost every part of the
and they penetrated to the very heart of the
known world and discovered new lands. From the
Carolingian empire and deep into Russia. They
Nordic kingdoms, their ships penetrated the west
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Figur 3. The Eastern route connected the Baltic Sea (Varangian Sea) with the Black Sea and Caspian Sea by the rivers
crossing Russia and the Baltic States. The map gives a good idea of the immense traces of Viking Age material in a huge
area from Lake Ladoga in the north to the northern coast of Black Sea. It should be noticed the concentration of places
and finds along the rivers, not only along the main trading routes through Volchov and Lovat rivers to Dnieper, and
Dvina river to Dnieper, but also far inland from the main routes along tributary rivers. Map from The Cultural Atlas
of the Viking World, London 1999.
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