24T23 Haithabu: Viking power on the Schlei
E22
Haithabu, Heiðabýr: “colony/settlement on the heath”.
Hedeby, or Haddeby.
Established in the early 9th-century CE, until its abandonment and destruction in the 11th-century, Vikings set up a village in the Schlei inlet inbound from the Baltic Sea, at an easy-to-ford location at the narrowest part of the Jutland peninsula over to the North Sea. At its height, the village was one of the largest Nordic towns during the Viking age. Later, Danish king Harald Bluetooth ordered in the 10th-century the construction of fortifications to protect the village, Northern European crossroads, and trade centre. The settlement also paved the way for the Christianization of Denmark.
The town and the surrounding Danevirke fortification received inscription as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018.
ᚼᛁᚦᛅᛒᚢ “hitabu” (rune in Younger Furthark). Hey, how about that: the rune for “b” is the modern symbol for Bluetooth technology.


















The Viking Museum Haithabu is located about 30-minutes by bus south-southeast from the centre of Schleswig. Open daily from 9am to 5pm, the 11€ charge includes admission to both museum and the houses (about 1.5 km walk to the south). The museum also has a great café.
I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 30 May 2024. I received neither sponsor nor support from any organization. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.