The “Times and Eras” Festival held in Kolomenskoye was visited by 195 000 people!

The second international festival of historical reconstructions “Times and Eras. The Kingdom of Moscow”, was held at the museum-reserve “Kolomenskoye” last weekend, and was organised by the tourism and hotel businesses of Moscow committee, together with the agency of historical entertainment “Ratobortsi”. We remind you that that the first “Times and Eras” festival was held in Moscow last year, which was dedicated to Ancient Russia in the period of 9^th – 11^th Centuries, was visited by over 75 000 people. This year, the reconstructions were dedicated to the 400^th Anniversary of the events of 1612, which are connected with the liberation of Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders by militia, under the leadership of Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitryi Pozharskyi.

During the press conference which was held prior to the start of the festival, the organizers announced that they are expecting up to 100 000 visitors. Considering the fact that the dates of the festival were moved from the start of September to the period of summer vacations and the summer house (“Dacha”) season, it could be assumed that there would be much fewer visitors to Kolomenskoye than last year. However, the number of guests exceeded all expectations. According to the latest figures from the police maintenance department of “Kolomenskoye”, over the course of 3 days the “Times and Eras. The Kingdom of Moscow” festival was visited by 195 000 Muscovites and guests of the capital!

A total of 1291 representatives from 86 Historical Reconstruction clubs took part in the festival from 31 regions of Russia, as well as 13 from other countries. Among those were Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belorussia, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Italy, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia and the United States of America. Amongst the objects reconstructed were the crafts village, the medieval market, the European camp and the Russian camp, the Cossack patrol, archery shooting, the petition of order, the recruitment office, recruit depot, the guest house and many more.

The culmination of the festival became the re-enactment of the Moscow battle of 1612, between the second militia forces and the Rzeczpospolita (the united Polish and Lithuanian government at the time). 700 representatives of different armed forces took part in the “battle”, presented by Don and Zaporozhian Cossacks, reiters, European musketeers, the famous Polish Winged Hussar cavalry, and the central character was the Moscow shooter. During the re-enactment, the deciding battle between the army of Hetman Chodkiewicz and the militia of Minin and Pozharscyi was reproduced. The victory of the Russian side marked the end of the Troubled times, the restoration of statehood and the turn of a new page in the history of Rus. The stunning decorations of the battle were carried out in accordance with historical documents, and showed the Russian and Polish infantry with cold weapons and firearms, and of course the famous Polish Winged Hussar cavalry and the Moscow reiters.  All the action was accompanied by commentary from the host of the festival, who informed everyone who gathered there of the course of the battle and the alignment of forces. The final salvo made up of tens of musketeers was the culmination and wound up all the action of the festival “Times and Eras. The Kingdom of Moscow.”

The mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin visited a few of the festivals sites during its opening. He had a talk with the Cossacks, had a look in the Blacksmith shop, the lathe installation, the workshop of toys made from bark, and also visited the theatre of ancient musical instruments. The Mayor highlighted that the festival of historical reconstructions has definitely become a major historical event not only in Russia, but on the international level. Its most important winners, from the words of Mr Sobyanin, were friendship and love towards the country’s history. The Mayor of Moscow expressed his hope that the festival will become an excellent tradition for Moscow.

The festival’s program was extremely rich and varied. The clubs “Shooters of Moscow”, “Polish Flying Hussars” “Magna Moravia” from the Czech Republic, Cyvil Bande Regiment from Poland performed in front of numerous spectators. A landsknecht tournament was held, a Cossack regatta, a musketeer competition, and also there were fencing and bow and arrow shooting master classes. Visitors of the festival “Times and Eras. The Kingdom of Moscow” had the opportunity to try their strength in a feat of arms, handicrafts, try various culinary dishes from the kitchen back in those days, visit concerts of ancient music, and purchase replicas of goods from that era.

Like the chairman of the organisational committee Aleksey Ovcharenko stated, this year the organizers were ready for a large amount of guests. “The camp areas were placed out more spaciously, there was more space with in them, and we tried to limit people’s access to residential camps. This gave us the opportunity to move the interactive areas outside of the camp’s areas. So respectively, even children could enter them and play there in large numbers”, - pointed out Alexey Ovcharenko.

One of the positive factors that visitors of the festival highlighted was that during the festival there wasn’t only one event or activity taking place at any given time, but many. So they could choose which one they wanted to go and visit. Children were highly involved in the festival’s program, and they could always participate in various tournaments and competitions. The history, everyday life, entertainment, military matters, soldiers uniforms, clothes – all this could be seen with your own eyes, to fully delve into the 17^th Century.

The pride and glory of the organizers became the handicraft village – an entire medieval street with different workshops, where practically all arts and crafts from the 17^th Century were reproduced, including iconography and the art of gold embroidery. Because after all, the real goal of the festival was to not only show the fights and battles, but everyday life, the lifestyle, entertainment and culture of the people of 17^th Century Russia and Europe.

Over the course of 3 days during the festival demonstrational performances, competitions and contests were help between historical reconstruction clubs. The winners were rewarded during and official ceremony.

The chairman of the committee of Tourism and the Hotel Industry of the city of Moscow Sergei Shpilko pointed out: “The reconstructors – are unique people, who live mostly not in the present, but in the past. It is those people who allow us to make not a cinematic, but a real life journey back 400 years”.

This series of festivals will be continued next year. The organizers will decide which era will be brought to life on the territory of the Museum – Reserve Kolomenskoye in 2013, but the spectacle guarantees to be just as bright and large scale as this year.

The festival is held within the Government program of the city of Moscow “The development of the holiday and tourism industry 2012-2016”.  The organizers have set before themselves the very ambitious task of making the festival one of the more popular events of the event-driven tourist market.

Nearly 300 journalists were accredited during the festival from over 100 publications, and around 200 participants of the media summit. According to the data provided by the invitation service, the festival was visited by about 46 representatives of major national and international tour operators and associations.