Vikings returning to Ukraine

[Vittfarne]

Vikings returning to Ukraine

The expedition will start in the Old Swedish-Village (Ed. note: Swe. Gammalsvenskby, present-day Ru. Kakhovka (Kherson). The old Swedish-village is a village where the inhabitants, whose ancestors emigrated from the Baltic Island of DagЖ, still speak Swedish.) in the south of Ukraine in spring 2004. Here the scientific expedition that brought the Viking boat Aifur from Sigtuna, Sweden to the estuary of the Dnjepr via river systems in the late Sovjet during the seasons of 1994 and 1996, was broken off. Our journey can be seen as a continuation of this expedition.

The journey starts out from the Dnjepr River, passes the Crimean peninsula and along the Russian and Abchazian coast to the mouth of the Rioni River at the Georgian port of Poti. Via Rioni and its tributaries we will proceed to the village of Zuare where the traverse over the water divider will take place. The boat will then be launched in the Kura River that flows out into the Caspian Sea at the coast of Azerbajdzjan. The final destination is Baku, the capital of Azerbajdzjan.



In 1036, Ingvar den Vittfarne (Ingvar, The One Who Travelled Far) a Viking chief, led a fleet from what is now known as Sweden to the Caspian Sea . He navigated the Russian waterways to the Black Sea and from there, most probably continued down the Georgian river Rioni. After hauling his boats across land, he is believed to have continued his journey via the Mtkvari River in Georgia, which is known as Kur in Azerbaijan south eastward to the Caspian. It is believed that Vittfarne even reached as far as Gara Bugaz located in present-day Turkmenistan.

However, on his return voyage, Ingvar and many of the men who accompanied him are believed to have become ill and died. Only a few men survived to tell the story. This fated expedition is mentioned on at least 26 of the 1,000 runic stones known to exist in Sweden. The tragedy is also referred to in an Icelandic saga.


http://www.vittfarne.com


Tentative sailing plan:

Zmievka (Kherson) - Yevpatoria 30/4 - 15/5 2004
Yevpatoria - Novorossijsk 16/5 - 29/5
Novorossijsk - Poti 30/5 - 14/6
Poti - Kwichkhethi 15/6 - 28/6
Kwichkhethi - Kirzan 29/6 - 13/7
Kirzan - Schuschun 14/7 - 27/7
Schuschun - Baku 28/7 - 12/8



http://www.newsgeorgia.ru/news.html?nws_id=233970

http://www.scandinavica.com/culture/.../vittfarne.htm

http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories...gs_coming.html

http://www.azernews.net/view.php?d=2585

http://gazeta.sebastopol.ua/2003/47/viking.shtml

http://www.novosti.zp.ua/2003/11/13/34690.html

http://www.mirtv.ru/rubrics/4/2874_1.htm

http://www.vdvsn.ru/papers/ks/2004/03/06/23366/

http://antenna.com.ua/news.php?id=590

[Vittfarne]

The Science Week in Orsay, the Valley of Science, in Paris.

On Sunday 17 October the jury will award the winner of the Prix Jeunesse 2004 - The Image and Science Competition.

The film about preparations for Expedition Vittfarne is nominated and competing.

http://www.mairie-orsay.fr/sciences2...e_jeunesse.htm

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The Swedish Television and its programme the Science Magazine participate in the competition about the Japan Broadcasting Corporation's (NHK) Japan Prize 2004 and is nominated with the programme about the preparations of Expedition Vittfarne.

The competition takes place in Tokyo between 26 October and 2 November 2004.

The prize award will take place on 2 November.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/jp-prize/open.html

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The documentary from the expedition will be released by the Swedish Television in December.

Expedition Vittfarne

http://www.vittfarne.com

[Vittfarne]

The documentary from the Expedition Vittfarne will be shown on the Swedish Television (SVT 2) on 28 March at 19.00 Hours and on 31 March at 16.25.

"Vittfarne" will also be shown on the satellite channel SVT Europe on 28 March at 23.35 and on 31 March at 13.10.

"Vittfarne" - a Swedish documentary from 2004 (60 minutes).

The summer 2004 the Association Vittfarne made a scientific expedition in the wake of the Swedish bviking chieftain Ingvar the fartravelled one. Ingvar and his men are believed to have made the same journey eastwards with 30 ships during 1036-1041. The journey, which is described at around 30 runic stones in central Sweden, in the Islandic Saga and in the Georgian Chronicle, started at the village Zmievka (Kherson Oblast), went through Russia and Georgia, to Baku in Azerbaijan. The scientific expedition lasted more than three months and the Swedish Television had a photographer on board from the start to the end.

Read more at:

http://www.vittfarne.com

http://www.scandinavica.com

http://svt.se