Waldemar I sacks Arkona

1172

Danish forces under Waldemar the Great and Bishop Absalon of Roskilde destroyed the temple of Svantovit on the island of Rugen, the last great pagan Slavic cult center on the Baltic. Its wooden idol was chopped up and burned and the priests baptized on the spot. The destruction of Arkona marked the effective end of organized Slavic paganism on the Baltic coast and opened Rugen to Danish colonization.