In 1168, the Danes under King Valdemar the Great conquered the temple fortress of Arkona and Christianized the pagan Slavs. Fragments of their pantheon and religious beliefs have been handed down
by Christian chroniclers of the time. Much was lost, while other elements were added, as demonstrated by the imaginative drawings of Slavic gods in a manuscript from 1662 and the modern
sculptures of Svantevit, Rügen’s god of gods. The Slavic svanti (* svętyj) means ‘holy’ and appears frequently in place and field names, such as Swantegard (holy fortress) near Gross Zicker or as
a Svantevit stone on the Danish island of Møn.
