From: smith
Message: 1236
Date: 2000-01-29
(3) The name Kwidzyn echoes Old Prussian Kwedin, the name of an island on the Vistula and of a Pomezanian village located there. The town as we know it grew round Marienwerder -- a castle built by the Teutonic Knights (they captured Kwedin in 1233), today a great tourist attraction (that's where I first met my wife, incidentally).andMartin Girchys-Shetty wrote:
> This question of the Slavic, Baltic and Germanic relations is certainly
> very interesting. And complex too. Archaeology of North-Eastern Europe
> has suffered much in the times of the cold war, either because of
> little interest, or because of misguided interest - as it was the case
> with Davydovna Gurevich excavating East Prussia and then distorting her
> data in favor of Soviet inspired pro-Slavic (pan-Balto-Slavic?)
> propaganda.The castle (now called Malbork) houses an excellent archaeological exhibition on the western Balts, that is, old Prussians and Jatzvingians. Well worth a visit (or at least, it was last summer), even though I already have a wife :-> Remarkable how long pagan traditions continued in the country, even after "conversion" to Christianity. Local officials were giving permission for bulls to be sacrificed well into the 17th century. That must make east Prussia the last outpost of paganism in Europe Piotr's reference to the Barts is new to me though. How do they fit in?AndrewPS Linguists would be amused by the notices by the entrance. These are in Polish, Russian, German and English, and are direct translations of each other. Apart from the prices - which are stratified by nationality. I never figured out why the tariff was highest for German speakers.