10th–12th centuries
Early Medieval & Rus' Heritage
The formation and development of Rus': warrior culture, trade routes, craftsmanship, clothing, weapons, everyday life and material culture.
About the organisation
About Atira Ruthenia
A community of research and practice
These people research history seriously — and then physically reenact and experience it.
What is Atira Ruthenia?
Atira Ruthenia is a historical reenactment, Historical European Martial Arts, research, educational and cultural organisation dedicated to bringing the medieval past to life through serious historical study and practical experience.
Our work combines historical reenactment and living history, medieval combat and fencing, experimental archaeology, the recreation of clothing, armour and equipment, historical crafts, research with primary sources, lectures and educational programmes, festivals and demonstrations, cultural exchange, and photography, film and digital historical media.
We are not a fantasy or entertainment group. We are a community standing at the intersection of history, research, martial culture, craftsmanship and living history.
The name
Understanding "Ruthenia"
Ruthenia evokes the medieval Ruthenian world — the historical lands and cultural traditions associated with Rus'. Geographically our focus is the interconnected medieval space of Rus' and the lands of modern Ukraine, together with Central and Eastern Europe: Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Bohemia, the Baltic region and the Holy Roman Empire.
Our references are manuscripts and illuminated initials, seals and heraldic devices, calligraphy and stone ornament, metalwork, textiles, armour and weapon details, maps, architecture and banners — authentic medieval visual culture, not modern invention.
Historical periods
A framework from the 10th to the 15th century
12th–14th centuries
High Middle Ages
The Ruthenian principalities: urban culture, warfare, armour, mounted and infantry warriors, European connections, art and manuscripts.
14th–15th centuries
Late Middle Ages
The development of plate armour and the longsword, fencing traditions and martial manuscripts, tournaments, guilds, crafts and martial exchange.
Two branches
Ukraine and Ireland
The Ukrainian branch works closest to the source material: Ruthenian heritage sites, archaeology, museum collections, camps and craftsmanship, with a strong reenactment and HEMA community.
Atira Ruthenia Ireland brings that same Ruthenian and European medieval identity into an Irish cultural environment — training halls, castles and heritage sites, festivals and public programmes — without becoming a Celtic-themed project.
Atira Ruthenia Ireland
Atira Ruthenia Ireland was founded on 25 September 2026 in Ballincollig, County Cork, as a not-for-profit community group. It is run by volunteers, with no paid staff. Its officers are Anna Ganych (Chairperson), Anna Kichapina (Secretary) and Olha Rahulina (Treasurer). The group has adopted a written constitution and is opening a bank account in the group's name.
We are at an early stage in Ireland, and we would rather say so plainly. We are building partnerships with heritage sites, schools and community organisations, preparing historical clothing and equipment, and taking part in public events. We do not yet run a regular HEMA training schedule in Ireland; that will follow once instructors, a venue and insurance are in place. For now our Irish work is historical reconstruction and living history — clothing, material culture, crafts and public interpretation — alongside the ten-year practice of our Kyiv branch. Bohdan Ostroushenko, our Kyiv coordinator and longsword instructor, joins the team in Ireland from November 2026.
The club did not stop when the full-scale invasion began. Several members served in Ukraine's Armed Forces while training in Kyiv continued under the club's coaches, and much of the club's effort went into volunteering. In 2022 club members delivered a humanitarian aid programme funded by the Danish Refugee Council, distributing food and essentials to people affected by the war; because the club had no registration of its own at the time, the funding was administered through a partner NGO, ГО «Ліга Успіху». The club also raised money to have adaptive clothing sewn for wounded soldiers, and in October 2022 the National Guard of Ukraine publicly thanked the club for its part in a film made for Defenders Day.
Through these years the club kept teaching in public: lectures at universities, among them Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University and the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, talks in museums, and appearances at festivals including FanCon and Tolkien Days. Co-founder Bohdan Ostroushenko completed a master's degree in history at Ohiienko University during this time. That experience, research and teaching are what the Irish group is built on.
Atira Ruthenia Ukraine
Atira Ruthenia began in Kyiv in 2015, founded by Bohdan Ostroushenko and Bohdan Toporivskyi. It started the way most serious clubs do — improvised weapons, a plywood shield, and more enthusiasm than equipment — and grew into a club that trains from period fencing treatises with proper replica weapons and modern protective gear.
The Kyiv club trains longsword, spear and dusack through the week, with open sparring alongside. Twelve of its fighters are registered with HEMA Ratings, the international database of historical fencing competitors. Away from the training hall, the club reconstructs the material culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 14th and 15th centuries — clothing, equipment, crafts and camp life — and takes that work to historical festivals, among them the annual "Tu Stan. The Hero's Path" at the Tustan cliff fortress. Its work with museums, universities and heritage institutions is listed below.
The club did not stop when the full-scale invasion began. Several members served in Ukraine's Armed Forces while training in Kyiv continued under the club's coaches, and much of the club's effort went into volunteering. In 2022, club members delivered a humanitarian aid programme funded by the Danish Refugee Council, distributing food and essentials to people affected by the war; because the club had no registration at the time, the funding was administered through a partner NGO, ГО «Ліга Успіху». The club also raised money to have adaptive clothing sewn for wounded soldiers, and in October 2022 the National Guard of Ukraine publicly thanked the club for its part in a film made for Defenders Day.
Over the years, the club kept teaching in public: lectures at universities, including Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University and the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts; talks in museums; and appearances at festivals including FanCon and Tolkien Days. Co-founder Bohdan Ostroushenko completed a master's degree in history at Ohiienko University during this time. That experience, research and teaching are what the Irish group is built on.
What we have done
2026
September — Barryscourt Castle, County Cork. Anna Kichapina took part in a presentation on medieval clothing and costume during a guided excursion at the castle.
July — Kernavė, Lithuania. At the invitation of the State Cultural Reserve of Kernavė, the team took part in the international experimental archaeology festival "Days of Live Archaeology" and delivered an educational workshop.
July — "A Millennium of Ukrainian Statehood", Kyiv. Living-history interpretation at the festival organised with the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, which afterwards wrote to thank the club for its contribution.
June — Dublin HEMA Club. Our founder and longsword instructor Bohdan Ostroushenko was hosted in Dublin for a training visit and a joint session.
May — Museum of Kyiv History. A memorandum of cooperation was signed on 31 May 2026, providing a framework for joint cultural and educational programmes.
March — Kamianets-Podilskyi Ivan Ohiienko National University. Lectures and a hands-on workshop on the military history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as part of History Faculty Week.
2025
December — Ten years of Atira Ruthenia. The club marked its tenth anniversary with the conference "The Role of Historical Reconstruction in Museums, Educational Programmes, Tourism and Rehabilitation", joined by partners including the Culture Department of the Bilohorodka Council.
October — Museum of Kyiv History. A Grand Duchy of Lithuania camp kitchen and historical fencing at the museum's food history festival "To Kyiv for Festivities: Delicious History Through the Ages".
September — Tolkien Day, Kyiv. Open duels at the lists and an exhibition of medieval arms and armour at the festival organised by the All Mor community.
September — "Bilohorodskyi Kysil", Kyiv region. At the first historical festival of the Bilohorodka community we ran workshops in medieval dance and candle-making, taught historical manoeuvres and hosted duels at the lists.
June — FANCON, Kyiv. Our own stand at Ukraine's pop-culture festival: historical fencing demonstrations, open training and an exhibition of 14th–15th-century arms, clothing and crafts.
April — St Mary's Church, Howth, Dublin. A charity Cake Day organised by Atira Ruthenia with the parish community raised €2,320 for Shveina Rota (the Sewing Company), a volunteer initiative making adaptive clothing for wounded soldiers. The money bought 279 T-shirts to be remade as adaptive garments, fabric for 30 pairs of women's adaptive underwear, four inflatable basins for washing the hair of bedridden patients in Cherkasy, material for 100 more T-shirts, and fabric for 200 flags for hospitals and rehabilitation centres.
2023
August — Korosten. A medieval historical camp with the Korosten City Council's Culture and Tourism Department: everyday life in the 14th–15th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania, battle demonstrations, games and drill for children, and a woodworking masterclass. The council lists it in its official report on 2023 projects.
May — "Drevlian Towns" conference, Korosten. We presented the club's reconstruction and historical fencing work at the regional history and archaeology conference held on the city's day.
2022
October — National Guard of Ukraine. The club took part in a film made for Ukraine's Defenders Day and was thanked by name in the credits published by the National Guard's Northern Command.
Each year we take part in the "Tu Stan. The Hero's Path" festival at the Tustan cliff fortress, and we have worked alongside the Chorna Halych club for around ten years.
Details and public evidence for each of these are on our Partners & Collaborations page.
Who we are
HistoricalAuthenticIntellectualMartialEuropeanRuthenianCraftedAdventurousCommunity-drivenInternational