For nearly a decade by joint efforts of the Kyivan Rus’ Park and the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine the work on restoring the military boat from the period of Kyivan Rus’ of 9th-11th centuries was conducted. The experiment successfully finished with the launch of the legendary boat on May 15. Right away the organizers turned it into a scientific experiment. Once Prince Volodymyr had been presented to the journalists, the boat set off on a scientific expedition along the Dnipro River in order to determine the maximum speed of the boat with the sail set on and without it. According to the president of the Kyivan Rus’ Park Volodymyr Yanchenko, the boat has been already registered as an experimental vessel. The total passenger capacity of the boat is up to 25 people, ten of them being rowers.
“The scientific expedition has been successfully launched,” Yanchenko told The Day. “We will tell you about its results a bit later. However, we can already say for sure that with the launch of the boat we clearly demonstrated to the world how powerful combat vessels were in the period of Kyivan Rus’. By the way, in 9th-11th centuries Kyiv made an important contribution to shipbuilding, demonstrating the latest achievements of scientific progress of that time.”
According to Yanchenko, it is planned that the boat will sail on the Dnipro River, Azov and Black seas, and will also participate in international regattas of historic ships.
“We do not consider Prince Volodymyr a tourist attraction by any means,” continued Yanchenko. “This is rather a museum piece, our cultural value. For researchers and history lovers the launch of the first fully completed boat of the period of Kyivan Rus’, built according to all the requirements of leading scientists, is a real holiday.”
