Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Groß Raden

Description

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a few kilometres north of the small town of Sternberg, is the Archäologische Freilichtmuseum Groß Raden, located in a low-lying area on the Groß Radener See. On an adjoining peninsula rises a conspicuous circular rampart about 50 metres in diameter.

Between 1973 and 1980 archaeologists carried out extensive excavations here, uncovering settlement remains of Slavic inhabitants from the 9th and 10th centuries. On the basis of these finds the fortification was reconstructed and established as an archaeological open-air museum; findings from the Slawenburg Behren-Lübchin were also incorporated into the reconstructions. The foundation stone for the museum building was laid in 1984 and it opened as the “Altslawischer Tempelort Groß Raden” on 13 May 1987. After changing sponsorships following the political reunification, the museum is now operated by the Landesamt für Kultur und Denkmalpflege Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The permanent exhibition was revised in 2015 and updated to reflect current research.

The evidence reveals two successive construction phases: an earlier fortification established in the late 9th century that was destroyed by fire after a few decades, and an immediately subsequent re-establishment. Around 7,000 m², almost half of the built-up area, were archaeologically investigated. Due to centuries of grazing and a high groundwater level, numerous organic materials and wooden structural elements were exceptionally well preserved. The island and shoreline landscape of that time has changed considerably through silting; the present peninsula was still an island about 1,000 years ago and was connected to the residential settlement only by a bridge.

The peninsula was protected by a 4.5-metre-wide ditch and a single-row palisade with a defensive walkway; access was via a reconstructed tunnel gate with a bridge. In the first phase there were probably about 40 houses built close together, each roughly 4 × 5 metres, with simple sand floors and a hearth. In the southeast stands an isolated building made of broad oak planks (approximately 7 × 11 m), whose assemblage of finds, traces of offerings and the so-called Kopfbohlen indicate an ambulatory temple or a sanctuary of the Warnower tribe. Open areas evidently served as market and assembly places.

Around the year 900, intense burn marks on the palisade and gate and damage to the sanctuary document a destruction; subsequently a rebuilding took place with larger blockhouses of up to 45 m². The sanctuary was moved to the island and protected by a circular rampart up to 10 metres high with an internal diameter of 25 metres; a gatehouse was erected on the bridge as a control post. At the end of the 10th century the settlement was finally abandoned; a connection with the historically recorded campaign of Otto III in 995 is considered possible.