Sergey Shpilko: The idea of lively history packed in festival format is very perspective for the capital city
On 2-4 of September 2011 Moscow City Committee for Tourism and Hotel Industry initiates the “Times and epochs: Ancient Russia at a Glance” historical-military festival in the Kolomenskoe Park. The Committee’s Chairman Mr. Sergey Shpilko told RATA-news this time travel will look like.
- Sergey Pavlovich, what do you think the city needs such a festival for?
- Today it is difficult for every city to attract significant tourist flows having no spectacular events. Have a look at event schedules of London, Wien, New York or Beijing. Moscow has to offer many activities of this kind as well. But most of them were not created for tourists, besides they are not well-known to the public. Obviously there are some exceptions, for example children’s New Year parties in Kremlin that attracts kids from all over the country. Out of new events I can mark out the “Spasskaya Tower” military music bands festival. One can say, that its success gave us an idea to go on with the historical military theme. After the Mayor’s approval of this idea we made changes to Complex Tourism Development plan for this year. It all will get going on the 1st of September at 11 o’clock.
- What will get going?
- The peoples who used to populate and visit these lands in IX-XI centuries will come to Moscow. At the D’yakovo ancient settlement, on the olden soil of the Kolomenskoe Museum a Slav town, a Viking truss, a Finno-Ugric koht and a steppe ulus will arise. We will erect artisanal stalls, where the guests will have an opportunity to experience ancient crafts, shopping rows, where one will be able to buy replicas of the homeware, apparel, weapons and toys from that time. Numerous taverns with medieval folk music will be opened for the public. The Vikings’ dragon ships, Slavic shallops and Finno-Ugric vessels will drop their anchors at the Moskva River banks.
- And will there be battles?
- Foot-born and horseback, on land and water, mass battles and one-on-one tournaments. But nevertheless our goal is not to show the guests war, but to introduce them the peaceful way of early medieval life of our ancestors. And this is what makes this festival different from the dramatizations of historical battles which are so popular these days. So to say we are offering the Muscovites and our guests a new tourist product – the time travel. Some thousand years back to the past. So we would like to invite our colleagues from the travel industry, their opinion and impression is very important for us.
- And what about guided tours around the site?
- We will have everything: guided tours, master classes, playground. On September, 4th, the City Day Kolomenskoe will host the performances of orchestras that participate in the “Spasskaya Tower” music festival, later at night will be the show of the French Circus. Welcome. The entrance is free of charge.
- But why the historical-military clubs? And by the way, how many of them take part in the festival?
- As for today – 74 bands from almost thirty Russian regions and also from USA, UK, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Belorussia, Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – the total of 1300 participants wearing historical costumes. And they are not actors or disguised military conscripts, but the elite of this social environment, who see the Middle Ages as their “own home”. This fact, in addition to the event’s staginess, is what makes the festival so attractive. As a matter of fact Brazilian and Venice carnivals and other well-known events of this kind were based on mass hobbies and folk traditions. And the popularity of historical dramatizations as well as that of eco-tourism is rapidly growing all over the world, including Russia. Plus this niche is not yet occupied by other metropolises. So thanks to the variety of parks and epochs Moscow gets a good chance to reach a level of really popular international city full of different spectacular events that would be a perfect reason to visit our city.