Station: [14] Introduction 'Life in a West Slavic town'

The exhibition, ‚Life in a west Slavic town‘ illustrates the life of traders and craftsmen in the early Middle Ages. This is the period in which an early urban lifestyle could also be found in the Starigard prince’s fort.

The exhibition was designed by Prof. Adrian von Müller of Berlin. In addition to special exhibits from Starigard, finds from other west Slavic settlements are also displayed.

Please turn to the right, into the hallway.

To the left you can see the two main structural forms of Slavic dwelling.

The first house is a so-called frame deal board construction. This type of house is typified by the wooden walls being sunken into the frame deal boards on the ground. The wall construction bears the roof. The walls are made of several log woods which are mortised to the frame at the top and bottom. The joints between the wall logs are sealed using moss, wool or clay.

The house to the right is a post construction whose walls consist of braiding of osier stakes and birch brushwood. The walls are lined inside and outside with clay to protect them from the wind.

The diagrams on the right of the hallway provide information on the typical places of settlement of the early fort towns of the Slavic period at crossing points of water and land routes, and show the amount of work involved in constructing the Slavic ring forts.