The Jousting Life: Jousting Tournament To Be Held during Железный Град (Iron City Festival) in Russia

Friday, July 4, 2014

Jousting Tournament To Be Held during Железный Град (Iron City Festival) in Russia

On August 1 - 3, 2014, a jousting tournament will be held at the Fortress of Izborsk. The fortress was originally built in the 13th century near the city of Pskov in northwest Russia. The tournament is organized by Dmitry Savchenko who helped organize the Times & Epochs Jousting Tournament in 2013.

Fortress of Izborsk in northwest Russia(photo provided by Dmitry Savchenko)

The tournament will be held as part of the festival Железный Град. When asked what 'Железный Град' would mean in English, Dmitry responded,"I can translate it as 'Iron City', but it is not quite accurate." However you translate it, it is an annual festival which has been held every year since 2008. The festival organizers are the same people who organize the Battle of the Nations tournaments, and the main focus of the event will be on the BotN competition.

However, in this Russian festival, there has always been an equestrian element, in which Dmitry has participated since the beginning. According to Dmitry:

"In previous years, the main goal of the tournament was – I do not know how to explain it – well, we did not think much about history, more about how to defeat more enemies. It was not too professional, but aggressive and fun!"

However, this year's jousting tournament will be different.

"Since then, I have closely studied the best experience of jousting colleagues outside of Russia. I was curious to bring our events to a slightly different level. Save sports gambling, but pay more attention to history. Personally for me, the tournament in Izborsk will be a continuation of the same experiment which was implemented at Times & Epochs 2013. This year it will be a tournament with high demands on historical authenticity. It will be solid lance jousting, mounted skill at arms, mounted melee and foot tournament." -- Dmitry Savchenko