Northern shores

A saga spanning a thousand years, central to the story of Europe We pass through the legendary castles of Elsinore and Halsingborg to enter the Baltic world. From early Viking days and then under the Byzantine empire, the Baltic was always much more than Europe's backwater, and in medieval times the area was an important trading ground. Each individual country developed separately, but then in the late 17th and early 18th centuries came the sole attempt to create a unified Baltic Empire based in Sweden. However, with the rise of Russian influence, this came apart and Russia expanded her empire in the region, annexing Finland, to be followed by the Prussianising of the Polish provinces. Great national sentiment grew in all Baltic states, and a high cultural level was achieved - both musically and in literature.