Battle of Lipany

This years’ Battle of Lipany was only the third one. I have not even heard of its first year and last year at that time I enjoyed the pleasures of pneumonia, so this time was my first.

It is probably because of the historical importance of this battle, but the organizers do not try to come up with a new story every year. On the contrary, they try to be as historical as possible, though there are far fewer soldiers and nobody dies, but that is to be expected from this kind of fight. Historical accuracy is also helped by the fact, that the whole event takes place on the actual historical battle.

Before the battle itself, the historical situation was introduced to the spectators, together with several types of battle units. Apart from the battle itself, where the lords’ league attacked the wagon fortification of Orphans and Taborites, there was of course also a historical camp, market and other accompanying programme – among others a dance performance of the group Naruby.

The pictures from the Battle of Lipany prove that there was enough to look at. There were other spectators in the background, by the Lipany barrow, but they were divided from the battlefield by an overgrown hillside, and so they did not look disturbing.

The Battle of Lipany was one of the most important ones in the Hussite wars, which might explain why there was a high majority of my friends who focus on the Hussite period. I haven’t seen as many of them together for as long as I can remember.

As a photographer I have to admit that this year’s historical battles taught me to use the Polarizing filter again. I used it before, too, but mostly when shooting landscapes. It was not till this year that I realized I might use them for shooting battles as well, since sun usually shines there a lot. It’s obvious that it was a good idea – just compare the previous years’ battle photos and this year’s ones.