In the Geschichtspark Bärnau-Tachov, the visitor does not just stroll through a regular museum,
but he visits a living replica of history.

He sees a Slavic village around the year 1000 AD. House types that have been passed down for centuries constitute a harmonic
hamlet, integrated into the rolling landscape of the little river plain near the pond. Livestock farming and agriculture as
the basic necessities of life are practiced locally; the gods are worshipped in natural surroundings.

But history proceeds and on the margins of the village, the visitor’s eye is caught by the signs of those developments.
In the 9th century, the Franconian conquest expands to the east. Charlemagne extends his empire and the Ottonians fortify
and organise the new territories and build castles. Here, too, at the border between Germanic and Slavic dominions,
such an administrative seat comes into being. Placed on an enditched artificial mound, the fortified tower of wood dominates
the landscape. The new rulers also brought Christianity and so, in the protecting presence of the motte-and-bailey castle,
a wooden church is built – close to the inhabitants of the village, but not quite a part of their community yet.

If castle and church appear old-fashioned today, in those days they were signs of progress and so, the visitor passes them to arrive in a 13th century village. The houses cannot be classified as “Slavic” or “early German” by their sight, but there are signs of new technologies: sawn boards and beams, a forge with big bellows, three-field crop rotation with “modern” ploughs and real timber framing on the building of the “new” tavern. Its keeper is able to afford new constructions, as he benefits from the Golden Road which leads from Nuremberg to Prague and Bärnau lies almost midway – and furthermore, it is the last stop before the border.

The buildings

On the open-air site of the Geschichtspark, houses will be erected as one-to-one models. They are museum reconstructions built from the original materials. By the use of authentic building materials and techniques, the buildings become stable, weatherproof and can be used and walked in. Crafts presentations and hands-on workshops, period costumes and items from everyday life create a realistic impression of a mediaeval village and of our ancestor’s daily living environment in this region.