Comments on: ID Reisverk Viking stronghold

Question: ID Reisverk Viking stronghold

6550 — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:02:07 -0800

Can you identify this Viking stronghold in the Netherlands? The caption for the picture is "Reisverk Viking stronghold in the Netherlands (Zeeland) ca. 1000 A.D."

This pic was taken from the book The Craft of Modular Post & Beam: Building log and timber homes affordably by James Mitchell. Reisverk in the caption refers to the style of post and beam construction. Any information would be appreciated, especially sites with more info and pictures. I think it's a pretty neat looking building.

Sorry the quality isn't great. Had to take a pic as I don't have a scanner.

By: luneray

luneray — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 15:41:26 -0800

What exactly are you looking for? Where the building (assuming it still exists) is located?

By: 6550

6550 — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:25:24 -0800

Any info on the building at all. Where it's located, history, pictures of it, size, etc.

By: fvw

fvw — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 16:41:56 -0800

As you may have guessed, Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands, it's the watery one in the south west.

Aren't any sources listed for the image in the book (check the page with copyright and editing information in the front or somewhere in the back after the index).

By: gubo

gubo — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:31:07 -0800

Looks like it's at the fortress of Trelleborg, on the island of Zealand (Sjaelland) in Denmark. Check out the photo of the reconstructed building at that link and at this one. The author probably made a mistake and thought it was the Dutch Zeeland.

By: wannalol

wannalol — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:18:16 -0800

Excellent find gubo - it looks like the same building to me too. Here are some more photos of the Viking building in Trelleborg.

By: 6550

6550 — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 19:00:28 -0800

Thanks! Being in Denmark, no wonder my searches didn't turn up anything. From the caption I was under the impression the building dated to 1000 A.D., not that it was a reconstruction.

By: Triode

Triode — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:28:53 -0800

OMG it's a pre-fab house!

"Curiously enough, during the late Viking Age a strikingly severe standardization of house-types sometimes occured, when individual houses were all built according to one standard pattern and show a quite amazing resemblance to one another. Such houses are found in the great Danish military camps excavated at Trelleborg, Aggersborg, and Frykat. ... In Trelleborg, the houses are exactly a hundred Roman feet long. At the widest point they measure 26 feet across. The gables are straight, and the long sides are sections of an extremely regular ellipse."

The Viking. pg 171-173. Almgren, Blindheim, Eldjarn. Crescent Books/Nordbook 1975.

(a coffee table book inherited from my Norwegian grandfather)

By: Triode

Triode — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 22:43:05 -0800

Along similar lines, have a look at the Stave Churches of Norway. (Stavkirke) Several originals still stand, now 800 years old. I dig your username, 6550

By: 6550

6550 — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 10:36:04 -0800

I requested that book from my library. Triode is also a cool username.