To begin with, a little history … In the Berlin region in the 7-12 centuries lived 2 Slavic families, in German transcription - Heveller (Gavolian) and Sprewanen (Spreeane). The Slavs of the Spree family - Sprewanen lived on both sides of the Spree River, at Barnim and Ostteltow. People of the Gavolian-Heveller family lived between Spandau and Brandenburg (Branibor).
After the end of World War II, extensive archaeological research began in the states of Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. As a result, dozens of large Slavic settlements, villages and castles were discovered built by the Slavs who lived on these lands in the 7-12 centuries.
Archaeological excavations make it possible to reconstruct the Slavic settlements of that time with sufficient accuracy. Castles are powerful ring-shaped fortifications made of wooden log cabins and earth with a shaft height of 10 meters or more. The villages located around the castles consisted mainly of one or two-storey houses of the chopped-block type (the logs were laid horizontally in the frame). Agriculture and animal husbandry were the lifeblood of the rural community. In addition, the villagers were engaged in small crafts, weaving, ceramic production, iron processing, bone processing.
The powerful castles of Köpenik and Branibor were not only important military outposts on the troubled Slavic-German border, but also had an important trade and political significance. Intensive Slavic trade allowed both castles in the 10-11 centuries to grow so much that they from military fortifications took the form of full-fledged cities, with large craft settlements. In addition to large cities, there were quite a few smaller castles.
Most of them were destroyed during the German expansion of the 10-12 centuries. After the first unsuccessful attempt to enslave the Slavs in the 10th century (the first phase of German eastern expansion was in 928-983. King Henry I. (919-936) captured Branibor-Brandenburg in 929 and managed to force the Slavic clans to pay tribute. Excavation in Spandau Spandau revealed on the territory of the city a German castle dating from the middle of the 10th century. It was destroyed during the great Slavic uprising in 983, which has the name Lutizenaufstand in German sources. The Heveller clan, as the southernmost Slavic clan, belonged to this union. Lutichi - Lutizen pushed the Germans back beyond the Elbe. Despite the considerable military efforts of the Germans, they did not manage to seize the Slavic lands for another 170 years.
Heinrich Lev.
Starting from the middle of the 12th century, the aspirations of German feudal lords to seize the Slavic regions intensified again. The initiators of the second phase of the expansion - the Crusade against the pagan Slavs - were individual German princes. The most famous are Heinrich Leo (1129-1195), Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, and Albrecht the Bear (c. 1100-1170, Margrave of the North Mark from 1134).
Albrecht the Bear.
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Albrecht Medved came from the Askanier family and being the owner of the Northern Mark from 1134, he was the immediate neighbor of the Lutici. After the last childless Slavic prince Pribislaw - Pribyslav - died in 1150, Albrecht occupied the land of Gavolyan - Hevellerland. Spandau Spandau became a German frontier castle again, and the old Slavic rampart found itself south of today's old part of the city - a German castle that emerged in 1200. After the emergence of the German county of Brandenburg, German peasants-colonists from Saxony began to be brought into the possession of the Lyutichi in droves. This was the final end of the Slavic era. Refugees Slavs left Branibor, Spandau, Kopienik, Trebin, and other cities to the east, to Pomorie, to Russia, or were baptized and gradually lost their language,mixing with the newcomer German peasants (the remnants of the non-German Slavs - the Luzhitsky Sorbs, live in modern Germany.
Slavic castles and many villages were no longer used, disappearing into decay and oblivion …
A reconstruction of a typical Lutich village of that time can be seen in the Museumsdorfes Düppel in Berlin.
In 1940, in the south-west 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. Even then, the idea appeared to restore the village and how to make the museum accessible to visitors. This is how the Düppel Village Museum appeared in 1975.
Today part of the village stands again, exactly on the excavated foundations. Restoration work is carried out under the supervision of scientists using medieval technology. The settlement turned into an archaeological experimental center.
On an area of 8 hectares, on the basis of archaeological finds, buildings were reconstructed, as well as a farm and tools.
The museum presents a rare opportunity to see and experience medieval life as it was 800 years ago.
Modern German Easter eggs.