Koporye stands on a rock spur in the Leningrad region, its walls following the edge of the outcrop above a ravine that once made assault almost impossible. Founded by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century and soon taken over by Novgorod, the stronghold was rebuilt across the centuries as this contested corner of the Baltic hinterland changed hands. What remains is a powerful ruin: round towers with gaping embrasures, a bridge approach to the gate, curtain walls now open to the sky, and a chapel within the enclosure. Vegetation has reclaimed part of the site, giving it the raw quality that ruins acquire when they are left largely untouched. Filmed in 4K, from the ground and from above, the programme reads Koporye as an exercise in medieval military siting and as a landscape in its own right.
