История/2. Общая история

Неверова А.В., Иваницкий Е.В.

Южно-российский государственный университет экономики и сервиса

Historical reconstruction and its possible implementation in the commercial tourism

The movement of historical reconstruction and historical fencing appeared in several European countries over a hundred years ago. It currently exists as a social movement and a form of entertainment for many thousands of people. The main tasks of the movement are considered to be the most accurate reproduction of historical events and complex reconstruction of various aspects of the material and spiritual culture of the past. Young people study folklore, history and mythology in their spare time, make historical costumes, household utensils, weapons and jewelry according to ancient technologies and patterns. Meetings, festivals, fairs, tournaments, voyages on replicas of ancient ships are organized as well as historical martial arts competitions. There are existing copies of historical settlements, where the participants and tourists can live a life of their ancestors, enjoy the atmosphere of the ancient culture, learn and experience many things known to us only from history books. The movement uses the scientific and archaeological material for the most accurate reconstruction not to invent the past but to understand and feel the spirit of a true history. Considering the question from the standpoint of commercial tourism such trends as Living History and Festivals of Historical Reconstruction are especially worth noting. Both trends are very popular because of their accessibility and focus on a wide range of consumers. Therefore, these trends should be considered separately because the best one can become the basis for an entertainment center project of the Festival-Reconstructive trend.

Living History is a recreation of everyday life of the inhabitants of any place in a certain historical period, usually in the form of organizing a "living history museum" and / or a “festival of living history” as well as the lessons of Living history in schools. This is a scientific discipline at the juncture of disciplines such as experimental archeology and museum education. Every detail is important here from cutting and the appearance of the clothing to recipes in authentic cuisine. Such events are of interest not only to the participants and spectators who can personally look at native history and the way their ancestors lived. This trend is very popular and enjoys popularity in Western Europe where there are dozens of "open air museums" where people live and work the atmosphere of bygone days. Living History implies the same degree of approximation to the real life of recreated era with the classical historical reconstruction. However, in addition to recreating artifacts (such as armor, weapons, costumes, household utensils, etc.), Living History implies recreation of epoch’s mode of life. That is the participants of the event Living History live for days in homes recreating the structure of the corresponding historical period. They cook food according to the old recipes and techniques (and you will not find here potatoes or other non-authentic medieval food) they live without televisions, internet and electricity. Even when they communicate with each other they try to do it "in the spirit of the age". In this sense the trend Living History is close to live action role-playing. Such a pastime may well be a good holiday for anyone tired of the daily dull office routine.

Clubs and organizations involved in Living History in Russia are still few in number. And the format is fairly new and many techniques and technologies have not been tested yet. Perhaps the biggest club chain in the organization of Living History in Russia is Alliance of Crown. It includes a number of clubs that specialize mainly in medieval European history (in the framework of the Alliance there are two trends: 1361-1420 and 1420-1487). In recent years many elements of the format Living History are used extensively at festivals of historic renovation. This practice makes it more difficult for the participants to meet the requirements but the performance is so real that you are close to believe that the historical past is alive. The format of Living History may be the most promising path of the development of historical reconstruction. It combines the best features not only of the reconstruction and sport fencing, but also of the historical role-playing. It allows including other cultural and recreational elements and moreover has considerable potential for commercial use.

Another even more active trend of such events is tournament. The essence of this trend is the study and practice of martial arts of the given epoch. Much is taken from sources of the time the rest is invented by people. The result is a spectacular performance which is worth seeing because everything looks real. Tournaments can be divided into staged (for the audience or just aesthetics) and sports (in which people want to try their strength and skills). Festival-Reconstructive trend involves the most adequate reconstruction of material values of the era which is the specialty of the club or the community. If historical fencing athletes view their swords as sports equipment designed to have the tactical and technical characteristics necessary to win the tournament the historian-reconstructor is much more interested in adequacy of existing arms to historical analogs.

Festivals arranged each year are typical events for this trend. They are divided according to the main periods and dates, places, reconstruction of war campaigns. Often they are held in the medieval castles that have survived in the western regions of our country and at our nearest neighbors. For example, the festival in Golub Dobzhin castle in Poland has been held for over twenty years and it attracts "knights" from France, Britain, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and other countries. Another striking example is the Battle of Grunwald. Knightly Brotherhoods of Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and even the United States take part in this historical performance. Nearly 1,5 thousand knights and 100 thousand spectators participate and watch the battle every year. The festival was put on a commercial basis long time ago and now it is a shining example of quality tourism product with the historical reconstruction on its basis.

The first step towards the creation of any project is generating new ideas. And this project is no exception. In this case the theme is ready. It is an entertainment center of Festival-Reconstructive trend but it needs some implementation work. The most attractive and widespread pattern of such complexes are the museums of Living History and the Festivals of Historical Reconstruction. Both types have their pronounced pluses and minuses. The former has all year round availability to consumers and non-specialist cognitive focus. The latter has a great number of participants and an extensive program of events but it is usually limited seasonally and has low orientation to non-participating persons. From the commercial point of view the future project will accommodate the elements of both trends. It will be a year round stationary object with a highly developed infrastructure for the reception and accommodation and animation both the participants of the events and ordinary consumers. Moreover the availability to ordinary consumers will create the channel for the promotion of historical reconstruction and a market for equipment within the complex itself. The next step should be to determine the theme of the complex. As a rule the Middle Ages and the medieval Rus-topic are the most popular among the consumers of a similar product. Medieval theme if used to create objects of the complex can serve other purposes such as to become a flexible framework for changing the whole theme as a whole in favor of a later or earlier historical concept.