The Jaromarsburg
In the middle of the castle stood the temple in 1168 with the oversized wooden image of the four-headed god Svantevit.
The remains of the Arkona Temple Castle are an important testimony to Slavic cultural history in the Baltic Sea region. Protected on three sides by the cliffs and on the land side by a 25 meter high rampart, it was a place of worship for the natives of Rügen from the 6th to the 12th century - the Slavic Ranen. With the conquest and destruction of the sanctuary under the leadership of Bishop Absalon of Roskilde in 1168, the Christianization of the islanders was initiated. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus was an eyewitness to this decisive event. Only the descriptions in the 14th book of his "Historia Danica" have handed down details of how the Ranenburg looked before it was destroyed.
Natural erosion at the cape over the centuries has caused much of the inner castle to collapse into the Baltic Sea and have been swallowed up by the sea. For the excavation team and its leader Fred Ruchthöft, it is a race against time to secure the archaeological finds. For example, the archaeologists literally brought to light a spearhead, arrowheads, pearls and a spur. Imposing cultural-historical individual pieces from the archaeological excavations from inside the ramparts are exhibited in the observation tower.