A new, but already officially recognized type of sport, historical fencing, is attracting interest in Russia. The federation of historical fencing, founded in 1997, brings together lovers of middle age weaponry and armor, and organizes duels with ancient sabers and swords.

The biggest base for historical fencing in Moscow is at the historical-cultural sporting complex ‘Setunskii Stan', which belongs to the Master stuntmen's union. This exquisite 17th-century-styled architectural complex is located near the Mosfilm movie studio. You could call the project unique, for there is nothing even closely resembling it in Moscow or Russia.

Apart from the school of historical fencing, there is also a museum of the military history of Moscow. In the exhibition rooms you can see knights' and warriors' costumes, swords, shields and other weapons from past centuries, which have survived to the present day. Interestingly, you can touch all the pieces and look at them closely. At the moment lectures on Russian history only happen once a week, with ancient military duels taking place simultaneously. As the manager of the complex told me, these lectures are very popular, so they are planning to have them at least twice a week.

The executive director of the Masters' union and chairman of the department of historical fencing, Sergey Makarchuk, explains, "There has been an interest in fencing for a long time. In the beginning, the sport was somewhat underground, it was not until later that it became a kind of an extreme sport and only three years ago it was recognized as an official sport.

"Imagine that over 100 clubs who specialize in the sport have applied to the recent ‘Sword of Russia' historical fencing championship."

It is difficult to accuse fencing of a lack of maturity. Fencers come out into the arena in the military wear of ancient Vikings, German knights or Russian warriors. The metal equipment, including chain mail, armor, gloves, helmets, and visors often weigh over 40kg combined, obviously requiring remarkable skill.

The fighters themselves use swords with blades of up to 85cm, which weigh around 2 kg. Just try picking up a weapon like that!

Having listened to Makarchuk, I said that I thought that fencing could be dangerous from the injury point of view. "I assure you that historical fencing is an absolutely safe sport – there have never been any serious injuries as there have been in other sports. I don't remember even one example, and I have been doing it since 1993. However, our sportsmen are not insured against bruises…"

For safety reasons direct hits are forbidden and the sword edges should be blunt. The rules on armor and defensive equipment are strict — the helmet can't be thinner than 2 cm and must be accompanied by a protective neck, face and body defense piece. Fights take place between three weight categories of lightly and heavily armed fencers, while five judges assess the accuracy of shots. For hitting the head, torso and shoulders you get 2 points; for the thighs and forearms 1 point. The first fencer to reach 10 points is the winner.

People that are into fencing that much can be called not only sportsmen but also historical researchers. They try to restore middle age weapons according to ancient books and manuscripts and recreate technology and tactics of knights' duels. According to Sergei Makarchuk, the reconstruction of such duels reminds a fashion show. And they really are no worse in terms of spectacular effect and arrangement. He did complain about the difficulty of reconstructing such historical costumes, "Each member of our club does his/her best in terms of costumes, but our costume factory also attempts to do as much as possible."

However, anybody who wants to master the saber like a Russian warrior, or the sword like a Teutonic knight does not need to go through a time warp to travel to a different age. You can do historical fencing from the age of 12, although you have to be 18 to take part in competitive fights. For many of these people, historical fencing has become a way of life they cannot give up.

"Today there are 14 adults and about 80 children who go in for historical fencing in our club," says Sergei Makarchuk. They also do physical training, acrobatics and many other types of sports. Over the next year we want to build a stable to teach them to ride horses using elements of historical battles."

It is interesting that legendary sword battles in Tolkien's famous books (The Hobbit, There and Back, Lord of the Rings and others) inspired several generations of youth to take up fencing. In Moscow they even have their own place – Nieskuchnyi Sad, where they get together to socialize and have their sword battles.

Where to take up historical fencing;
Master, stuntman school
2nd Setunskii proyezd, bldg 5b
Metro: Kievskaya
Tel: 240-3553, 240-6190
Daily 1000-2100
Historical fencing with heavy knights' weapons.
Children accepted from 12 years.
For children below 16, 100-150 rubles per month; for over 16, 200-300 rubles per month depending on type of fencing.

Paladin historical fencing club
Prospekt Odoevskogo 13 in kindergarten building
Metro: Tyoplyi Stan
Tel: 423-2990, 475-3541
Mondays 1800-2100, Wed 1700-2100, Sat 1500-2100
Sporting historical fencing complex. Studio of historical costumes and reconstruction of historical weaponry and armory.