Apparently, the Cimmerians also skated across frozen rivers. And this happened about 3200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. In 1967, archaeologists found on the banks of the Southern Bug River, not far from Odessa, the oldest skates to date - they were made from the bones of domestic animals and attached to the legs with leather cords. And they rode them like skis - they pushed off with the help of wooden sticks. But it is difficult to say whether the invention of skates can be attributed to the pre-Scythian tribes, because other peoples also had similar devices.
For example, the ancient Chinese, who, however, used their favorite bamboo instead of bones. And according to Italian researchers Federico Fermenti and Alberto Minetti, who calculated the energy costs of moving through deep snow and ice, bone skates were also used by the inhabitants of modern Finland 3,000 years ago. According to the same scientists, they were also in demand among the ancient inhabitants of what is now Germany. Bone “blades” are found at excavations in ancient Novgorod, Staraya Russa and Staraya Ladoga. This means that the Slavs also willingly used fast-moving “bones,” but the inhabitants of Siberia attached walrus tusks to their legs. First of all, this was probably done not for the love of fun, but to increase the speed of movement in the winter.
But skates were held in special esteem in Holland and England. True, this happened already in the Middle Ages - it was from those times that many finds and written evidence of the use of skates have been preserved. In the 12th century, the author of the Chronicle of the Noble City of London, monk Stephanius, wrote: “When the large swamp that washes the city rampart at Moorfield from the north freezes, whole groups of young people go there. Some, walking as wide as possible, simply glide quickly. Others, more experienced in playing on ice, tie the tibia bones of animals to their legs and, holding sticks with sharp tips in their hands, from time to time they push off the ice with them and rush as fast as a bird or a spear launched from a ballista...” entertainment included broken legs, arms and ribs.
In the 13th century, in Holland and Iceland they finally figured out how to make skate blades not from poorly gliding and poorly controlled animal bones, but from wooden blocks to which sharpened metal knives were attached (iron or bronze; there was, of course, no steel in those days ) stripes. In the old fashioned way, they were attached to shoes with leather straps, but the sticks could be thrown away, because in order to give yourself acceleration, from now on it was enough to just push off with your foot. Therefore, skates are increasingly used not only for movement, but also “as a luxury” - for winter fun. Countries that had many canals and rivers that froze in the cold were especially lucky.
This is clearly evidenced by the works of the Dutch artist Henderik Averkamp, painted in the early 1600s and depicting cheerful inhabitants of the Low Countries, dashingly gliding across the ice, and some with what looked like hockey sticks in their hands. This is exactly how Peter I saw Holland during his famous trip to Europe at the end of the same 1600s. And, among other innovations, he brought European skates with him to Russia, ordering their production to be established in Tula. It is even believed that it was the great reformer who was the first to think of nailing skates directly to shoes, rather than tying them with cords. Historical chronicles tell how Peter screwed the blades to his boots and cheerfully glided “towards the shipyard where he was doing his internship.” By the way, in those days craftsmen often carved horse figures on the long, curved toes of skates. This didn’t make the riding any more comfortable, but it was beautiful! The word “skates” comes from these horses.
After the death of the “Russian Hamlet,” the passion for skating in Rus', of course, came to naught. But a hundred years later, Pushkin wrote “how fun it is, shod with sharp iron on your feet, to slide along the mirror of standing, level rivers.” However, as one might guess, the “smooth standing rivers” were by no means smooth and caused a lot of inconvenience to the skaters. And in 1842, a certain Londoner named Henry Kirk filled the first skating rink - its surface was smooth and the risk of falling under water was minimal. And in January 1889, the first ever world speed skating championship was held in Amsterdam. It is especially pleasant that the winner was not a Dutchman with a hereditary passion for skating, but a Russian speed skater named Alexander Panshin. By the way, it is he who is credited with the invention of running skates, in which the front curl, which interferes with the development of speed, was removed and the blade was lengthened (also to increase speed). And in 1892, a certain Norwegian H. Hagen further improved the running skate by soldering the blade into a tube.
And then it started. In 1908, figure skating (which officially appeared in 1871) became the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games program. At the same time, the Swedish figure skater and the world's first figure skating champion at the London Games, Ulrich Salchow, proposed making notches on the front of the blade for better braking. In 1914, American blade maker John Strauss invented the world's first closed steel toe for skating boots to increase rigidity and protect the foot. Throughout the last century, skates changed the shape of the blade, sometimes shortening it, sometimes lengthening it. For example, in the late 1950s, hockey players called their skates “spotty skates” because it was not very convenient to drive the puck on them - they looked more like figure skates due to the almost right angle of the blade. But in the 1990s, a fundamentally new type of skates appeared - convenient for fast running. They were nicknamed “flip-flops” because of the “coming off” heel. And in 1994, at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, the world saw “irons” - skates on a solid blade, which brought the former world champion in skating, Dutchman Rintje Ritsma, to a bronze medal (with which he was dissatisfied, so in the next distance he put on his old skates - with holes in the blades).
There are a lot of subspecies of modern skates, but there are only six types: recreational, recreational for tourism (differing from the first in a longer and also replaceable blade; easily replaced with skis), short track skates, speed skating, hockey and figure skating skates .
https://www.moya-planeta.ru/travel/view/istoriya_veshhej_konki_43716/This is a copy of the article located at
How great it is to run to the skating rink with friends on a frosty day! And there they compete to see who is faster and who has the steepest turn. And it always seemed to me that skates were called skates because they race so fast. Well, just like horses!
And indeed, the Russian word “skates” was formed from the word “horse”. But not because of the speed, but because earlier the front part of the skates was decorated with a horse's head.
It turns out that our distant ancestors also loved to ride them. Not far from Odessa, archaeologists unearthed two pairs of the most ancient skates ever found on the planet. They are over three thousand years old! They are made from walrus tusks and animal bones. The first skates were similar to skis because they did not have pointed ribs. And people pushed off with the help of sticks, so they skated quickly and confidently.
What were skates made from? In China, pieces of bamboo were attached to boots, in Siberia they rode on walrus tusks, in Kazakhstan they made skates from horse bones.
As time passed, the shape of the skates and the material from which they were made changed. In the 17th century, skates were made of wood and lined with iron on the bottom and front.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the first steel skates appeared in northern Europe, but their fastening was weak, and they often fell off the feet of ice skaters. A strong fastening was invented by ours. Historical chronicles tell about Tsar Peter I, who amazed the Dutch with his extraordinary solution: he screwed his skates directly to his boots and dashingly glided to the shipyard where he was doing his internship. Upon returning to Russia, he ordered the production of skates to be established in Tula. With the death of Peter, the passion for skating faded away, however, a hundred years later, Pushkin noted “how fun it is, having shod your feet with sharp iron, to slide along the mirror of standing, flat rivers.” Tsar Peter I, who was fond of skating. He decided that skates and shoes should be one unit and screwed the skates to the boots.
Muscovites learned to skate with great diligence, about which there were curious memoirs of contemporaries written in the 17th century. “The Muscovites studied hard to skate, and they repeatedly fell and were seriously hurt. And since they, through carelessness, sometimes skated on thin ice, some of them fell neck-deep into the water. Meanwhile, they tolerated the cold well and therefore were in no hurry to put on a dry dress, but continued to ride for some time in a wet one. Then we changed into dry clothes and went for a ride again. They did this so zealously that they made progress, and some of them could skate perfectly..."
If at first skates were used only as a means of transportation, then they became a favorite pastime in winter. The first skating club opened in 1604 in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. Even the conditions mandatory for skaters who wanted to become members of the club were preserved. It was necessary to drive a circle on one leg, jump over three hats placed one on top of the other, and at high speed pick up a coin lying on the ice.
The very first thin-blade racing skates were invented in 1888 by two Norwegian runner inventors. On such skates, the speed of athletes increased and the first world champion in speed skating was the Russian athlete Alexander Panshin.
And what are skaters doing on the ice just now? Well, their skates are, of course, special! Nowadays, each sport has its own skates. These are speed skating skates, short track skates, hockey skates, figure skates, as well as recreational skates for tourism. And it all started with a strong bone!
Earliest mention of the word "horse" can be found in Gemakh's English-Dutch Dictionary (1648). In international sports word "skates" came from the Russian language skates, runner skates, hunchbacked skates. The front part of the wooden skates was decorated with a horse's head - hence the affectionate name, a diminutive of the word "horse": skates.
History of skates
The first devices for moving on ice, which we know about from archaeological excavations and from literature, were made from animal bones. Such skate bones have been found in the Netherlands, Denmark, Bavaria, Bohemia, Switzerland, England, Norway, Sweden and the Soviet Union. Skates are one of the oldest inventions of mankind. Carved from wood or carved from animal bones and attached to a boot, skates made it possible to quickly move across ice-covered ground. In Siberia they rode on walrus tusks, in China - on bamboo trunks. And the skates found by archaeologists in Kazakhstan near Borovoe Lake were made from the shin bone of a horse. A similar skate is kept in the London Museum - a long, sharpened bone with a slot for a lace. This skate was found in Moorefield in 1839. The British Museum displays bone skates that were used to skate almost two thousand years ago. These skates were found in the last century. And more recently, in 1967, on the banks of the Southern Bug and a dry estuary near Odessa, archaeologists discovered the most ancient skates ever found; these skates belonged to the Cimmerians, a nomadic tribe that lived 3,200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. The Chimerians skied on ice skates already during the Bronze Age. These devices were made from the bones of domestic animals. The bone was ground down on one side, and special holes were made at its ends for attaching to shoes. 
The first skates were actually a prototype of skis and did not have pointed ribs. Repulsion had to be done using sticks. But still, movement on the ice-covered surface was much faster and more confident. Similar bone skates existed in ancient times, and archaeologists attribute some of them to the Stone Age. In age, they are superior to the “equipment” of the ancient Dutch and Danes in Scandinavia; skates appeared only in the Viking Age. Bone skates appeared in Russia almost 3 thousand years ago. During excavations in settlements and cities of ancient Rus' - Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, Pskov - skates were found made from the bones of the front legs of horses. These skates had three holes - two for attaching the skate to the toe of the shoe and one for holding the skate at the heel. In the Netherlands, initially the role of a skate, along with animal bones, was played by a wooden shoe. Then metal runners began to be attached to such shoes.
In England during Shakespeare's time (until the beginning of the 16th century), bone skates were still used, not to mention Norway and Iceland, where they were held in high esteem until the end of the 19th century. But already in the 14th century, they learned how to make wooden skates with a metal strip on the sliding surface.
From the 13th to the mid-18th centuries, skates served as a means of transportation for people on frozen rivers, lakes and canals in the northern countries; the skate was made from a wooden base, to which a runner made of bronze or iron was first attached, and later from steel. The first to rivete skates to shoes was the Russian Emperor Peter I, who, while building ships in Holland, became interested in skates. He immediately realized that skates and shoes should form a single whole. Wooden skates with an iron blade For four centuries, the wooden base of the skate, as well as the runner, changed mainly only in their length and shape. The second half of the 19th century is characterized by the rapid development of speed skating throughout the world. In America, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Russia and other countries, skates of new designs are beginning to appear. Ice skating has become a favorite winter pastime, and therefore skating clubs began to open everywhere. In Russia, the first such club was opened in St. Petersburg in 1864 by the world-famous speed skater, the first unofficial world champion, Russian speed skater and figure skater A. Panshin. Simultaneously with the wide spread of skating and running, their improvement also took place. Until 1883, figure skaters and speed skaters skated on all-metal short, heavy skates with a curved blade. Such skates, made by Tula craftsmen, were found during the construction of the Moscow metro.
Norwegian speed skaters A. Paulsen and K. Werner designed tubular racing skates in 1880. Tubular racing skates Front and back metal plates 
The forms were screwed to the sole of the boot with six and four screws, respectively.
In 1892, the Norwegian H. Hagen proposed another innovation - a running skate consisting of a steel tube and a steel runner inserted into it. These skates made it possible to take a colossal step forward in the development of speed running; All the world's speed skaters still use these skates to this day. The appearance of a new model of skates made by the Dutch companies Viking and Raps became a sensation. In 1996-1997 Some Dutch speed skaters began the competitive season on new model skates. Belgian Bart VELDKAMP, winner of the 1997 World Championships in the 10,000 m race, said: “Blindskate is the future of speed skating.”
Gaines' hobby
The prototype of the modern figure skate is D. Gaines's skate. This model has essentially remained unchanged to this day under the name “snow maiden”. The toe of this skate with a thick blade is sharply curved upward and has no teeth, thanks to which it can be skated not only on ice, but also on hard-packed, icy snow. This is where, in all likelihood, the Russian name for this common model came from. Snowflakes are very convenient for initial learning to skate. The absence of teeth on the toe teaches a novice skater to use exclusively the ribs of the skate for movement, while the significant curvature of its runner makes it easier to control the skate and encourages skating in steep arcs.
Model U. Salkova retains all the main features of the Gaines skate, but has a fundamentally new detail - teeth made on the toe of the skate. The appearance of teeth reflected the increased complexity of the execution of figures, the need to demonstrate various stops, jumps, pirouettes on the toe, toe pushes, compasses, stepping from toe to toe, etc. The appearance of a skate with three racks ( model N. Panin) was caused by technical considerations, namely, an increase in the strength of the skate. A modern skate does not contain any new parts, design or operational innovations. Only the shape of the skate, the thickness of the blade and the configuration of the teeth have undergone some changes. The skater's skate is 3-4 millimeters thick and is sharpened so that the side and bottom surfaces of the blade form two sharp ribs. The runner of the skate is rounded, and therefore any tilt of the body to the side causes sliding in an arc. 
There are three types of skates used in figure skating:
A. Skates for the compulsory program;
B. Skates for performing a free program in both singles and pairs skating.
C. Skates for sports ice dancing.
A figure skating skate consists of three parts: runner, soles and heel.
Blade The ridge is made of high-quality carbon or alloy, most often chrome-vanadium steel. Hardening, or cementation, is carried out in such a way that the skate runner and the lower part of the side surfaces of the blade have the greatest hardness, while the rest remains “raw”, that is, not so hard. Thanks to this, the skate, despite the high hardness of the working part, retains the necessary elasticity and does not break when jumping. The blade of the skate is welded to two plates called the sole and heel of the skate. The latter have holes through which the skate is attached to the boot with special screws. In recent years, skates with replaceable blades have appeared. Blades may vary depending on the nature of the figures being performed and the condition of the ice.
Configuration is critical runner skate. In the front part the curvature is greatest, in the rear part it is somewhat less, and the flattest part of the runner is the middle one. The curvature of the ridge runner changes smoothly from one part to another, 
so that when the sliding section changes, the trail does not have a break. The height of the skate blade is approximately 40-50 millimeters. This height, on the one hand, provides sufficient stability, and on the other, allows you to perform figures with a large inclination of the body without the sole of the boot touching the ice. To ensure the correct location of the center of gravity of the body above the skate, the height of its front part is 2-4 millimeters less than the back. Until the 1950s, figure skaters performed all exercises on one type of skate. Currently, the level of development of figure skating has increased so much that athletes need slightly different skates for different types of skating. Now single skaters use two pairs of skates - one for compulsory figures, others for free skating, and pair skaters use only one for free skating. Each type of skate reflects the specific features of the compulsory program, free skating, and ice dancing. The length of the skate blade depends on its purpose. For compulsory figures it is the largest, for free skating it is usually somewhat less, and the smallest for ice dancing, so that during turns the dancers do not touch each other with their skates.
The ridge runner is machined in such a way that the lower surface is slightly concave, forming a so-called groove, or groove. The presence of a groove makes the ridges of the skate sharper, thereby facilitating the execution of figures at a long speed and with an inclination. The diameter of the groove depends on the type of skate. The deepest is in free skating skates, where high gliding speeds are used, spins and jumps are performed that require strong pressure from the skate on the ice. Modern skates have slightly thinner blades than those used at the beginning of the century. If the blades of the skates of D. Gaines, U. Salkov and N. Panin were up to 6 millimeters thick, then modern skates for compulsory figures and free skating are about 3-4 millimeters, and dance skates are even thinner - 2-3 millimeters. The location and configuration of the teeth are essential. In “school” skates, the lower tooth is sharpened from the sides and therefore has the shape of a sharp wedge. Thanks to this, when sliding backwards, the tooth touching the ice does not cause significant scraping, which is completely unacceptable in compulsory figures. The lower tooth of “school” skates, compared to other types of skates, is slightly moved forward and raised, which allows you to slide on the front of the skate without the tooth touching the ice. 
Skate point. It is better to make the point on a machine in which the sharpening stone rotates along the blade of the skate, since in this case the final grinding of the surface of the runner is greatly simplified. Pedagogical observations and special studies conducted with figure skaters of various sports qualifications made it possible to establish that many skates of domestic brands are poorly suited for performing compulsory figures. Very often, errors in the microgeometry of the figure’s footprint are not the fault of the athlete, but as a result of the lack of a special skate for “school”.
Skates for compulsory exercises must meet the following requirements:
Ensure optimal gliding in large circles in loopless figures and in small circles in a loop.”
Create the possibility of stable sliding on the middle part of the skate runner.
Ensure body stability when performing loop turns.
Roll the skate briefly with a large amplitude from its middle back and forth and vice versa when performing triples, brackets, hooks and hooks.
Boots. Initially, skates were attached to ordinary boots in one way or another only for the duration of skating. The idea of tightly attaching skates to boots, according to legend, belongs to Peter the Great. In a book published in Dutch in 1848, there is a mention that the Russian emperor, while building ships in Holland, became interested in skates, and the idea came to him that it was more convenient to have skates permanently attached to his boots. As a result of this innovation, shoes attached to skates lost their everyday functions, and gradually boots specially adapted for skating began to appear. Modern figure skating boots are made exactly to fit your feet from thick leather. A characteristic feature is the high tops, designed to prevent the foot from “breaking” when the body bends strongly to the side. The stiffness of boots depends on their purpose. Most 
Hard boots are made for free skating. The boot tops of male athletes performing in pair skating should be especially strong, since when performing lifts the load on the boots exceeds the total weight of the partners. To ensure the required rigidity, the toe and heel are reinforced from the inside with hard leather. The boots, so that they do not lose the ability to fit tightly to the leg and have sufficient strength, are made of two layers of leather, between which there is a layer of canvas.
Due to the significant load when performing jumps, in free skating boots the heel is usually strengthened with a thin tube passed from top to bottom through its center. Boots should also be equipped with a wide tongue, into which a thick (0.5 centimeter) layer of porous rubber or foam rubber is sewn, and the upper part of the lacing - with hooks to make it easier to put on the boots.
Gluing skates to boots. A large number of failures among beginner skaters are caused by improper installation of skates. A sign of this is chronic breaking of the feet, scraping of ice when performing simple arches, as well as curvature of the boot tops. For beginners and young skaters, we can recommend the position of the skate relative to the sole of the boot such that the back of the blade coincides with the middle of the sole of the boot, and the front is shifted inward by approximately half the thickness of the blade. When attaching your skates, keep in mind that for skaters with X-shaped legs, the skates should be moved inward, and for those with O-shaped legs, the skates should be moved outward from their normal position. Master skaters require individual fitting of skates to boots. Most skate models have special mounting holes in the heel and sole that allow some movement of the skate relative to the boot. By successive tests, the position of the skate is determined separately for each leg. And only after that they are finally attached to all sheepskin coats. Skates should be screwed to the sole using copper or other stainless steel screws. It is recommended to pre-pierce the holes with a sharp awl and screw in the screws, lubricating them with soap. The screws must not be allowed to turn: in this case, the fastening may become unstable, and this creates considerable danger for the rider.
Historical facts about ice skating
- The first mention of skates in literature was by the Canterbury monk Stephanius, who in 1174 created the “Chronicle of the Noble City of London.” This is how he described winter fun: “When the large swamp, washing the city rampart at Moorfield from the north, freezes, whole groups of young people go there to play sports on ice. Some, walking as wide as possible, glide quickly. Others, more experienced in playing on ice, tie the shin bones of animals to their legs and, holding sticks with sharp tips in their hands, at times push off from the ice with them and rush as fast as a bird in the air or a spear launched from a ballista...” Beautiful wrote the monk, but, like many journalists, he apparently liked to make things up: is it really possible to run on skates at the speed of a spear? But let’s forgive the ancient recluse’s exaggeration. Let us be grateful to him for his work.
- The British Museum displays bone skates that were used almost two thousand years ago. These skates were found in the last century.
- And in 1967, on the banks of the Southern Bug and a dry estuary near Odessa, archaeologists discovered the most ancient skates ever found. These skates belonged to the Chimerians, a nomadic tribe that lived 3,200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. The Chimerians were already skating during the Bronze Age. In age, they are superior to the “equipment” of the ancient Dutch and Danes in Scandinavia; skates appeared only in the Viking Age.
- Over time, both the skates themselves and the method of movement on them improved. Animal bones were replaced with wooden blocks. First, their surface was polished, then metal strips began to be attached to it.
- In the 13th century, skates with an iron runner curved in front and inserted into a wooden block appeared in Holland and Iceland. They were tied to their shoes with belts. And Russian craftsmen carved the curved toe of the skate in the form of a horse’s head, hence the name “skates”.
- Steel skates, tightly screwed to shoes, were made at the Tula Arms Factory by order of Peter I. And in 1908, the first figure skating champion Nikolai Panin appeared in Russia. He also became the only winner of an Olympic gold medal in pre-revolutionary Russia and a five-time champion of our country in this sport. Since then, we have firmly held the world championship in figure skating, and the Russian school is rightfully considered the strongest.
- The first skating club opened in 1604 in the Scottish city of Edinburgh. In 1763, athletes from Foggy Albion held the first international friendly meeting with American fast walkers.
- More than three hundred years ago, the English diplomat Carlyle, who visited Moscow, wrote: “The favorite winter pastime of Muscovites is ice skating.” And in the works of A.S. Pushkina, L.N. Tolstoy, A.I. Kuprin mentions this more than once.
Reports: according to the testimony of ancient historians, the most ancient skaters were the Cimmerians, who skated on bone skates on the surface of the frozen Dnieper estuary. Bone skates were used several centuries later. So in the 12th century, monk Stephanius, the author of the Chronicle of the Noble City of London, wrote: “When the large swamp washing the city rampart at Moorfield from the north freezes, whole groups of young people go there. Some, walking as wide as possible, simply glide quickly. Others, more experienced in playing on ice, tie the tibia bones of animals to their legs and, holding sticks with sharp tips in their hands, from time to time push off from the ice with them and rush as fast as a bird in the air or a spear launched from a ballista ... "
Medieval bone skates, Museum of London
via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medieval-skates-London.jpg
2.
Pair of bone skates, 11th century/ A pair of 11th century ice skates made from horse metacarpal bones.
The link in the image will open a file 2,768 × 1,600 pixels, file size: 1.3 MB
via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoneSkatesBedfordMuseum.JPG
3.
Skates made of bone/ Eiríksstaðir. Ice skaters made of bone.
The link in the image will open a file 2,560 × 1,920 pixels, file size: 1.68 MB
via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eir%C3%ADkssta%C3%B0ir_-_Schlittschuh_auf_Knochen.jpg
In the 13th century, changes occurred in skate manufacturing technology in Holland and Iceland. Animal bones were replaced with metal and wood. Sharpened metal strips began to be inserted into wooden blocks. From the beginning of the 18th century, wooden bars were gradually replaced by steel tubes.
4.
Vintage Dutch skates. via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oude_schaats_uit_Nederland..JPG
5.
Old skates from Finland / Old skates. Picture taken on the Kylmäpihlaja lighthouse island in front of town Rauma, Finland
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_skates_at_Kylm%C3%A4pihlaja_lighthouse.jpg
6.
Skates, America, mid-19th centuryMetropolitan Museum/ 1840-59. Culture: American Medium: leather, wood, metal Dimensions: 113 in. (287 cm). Credit Line: Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/80096269
In the 50-60s of the 19th century, the craze for skating came to the United States. Metropolitan Skates - Made from an old Dutch design that has remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
7.
Skates of the year and century are not clear. via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heulenaars.jpg
One of the problems was attaching the skate to the shoe. Historical chronicles tell about Peter I, who amazed the Dutch with his extraordinary decision: he screwed skates directly to his boots and dashingly glided to the shipyard where he was doing his internship. Upon returning to Russia, he ordered the production of skates to be established in Tula. With the death of Peter, the passion for skating faded away, however, a hundred years later, Pushkin noted “how fun it is, shod with sharp iron on your feet, to glide along the mirror of standing, flat rivers.”
8.
Various skates from the museum of the German city of St. Blasien / Sankt Blasien
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StBlasien_Schlittschuhe.jpg
In the United States, in 1848, an inventor from Philadelphia patented durable skates with an all-metal sole.
9.
Advertisement from the Boston Almanac, 1864
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1864_skate_BostonAlmanac.png
In 1842, Londoner Henry Kirk filled the first skating rink. Man-made ones have been added to the natural winter skiing areas.
Skates in painting
10.
Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450-1516)Tripti The Garden of Earthly Delights, between 1480/90 and 1510.
Right wing, detailWood, oil. 389×220 cmPrado Museum, Madrid
In the winter landscapes of the small Dutch, people on skates occupy a place of honor. I will limit myself to one artist.
For example, here are three works by the Dutchman Hendrik Averkamp (1585-1634), a master of winter landscapes. In early childhood, his family settled in Kampen (Overijssel province), where his father ran a pharmacy. Hendrik Averkamp was mute from birth, hence his nickname (Stomme Campen, the mute from Campen). Avercamp specialized in winter landscapes in his work, becoming the most famous painter of this theme in European art. The artist organically combined landscapes with genre scenes and depicted the leisure time of citizens. The Pushkin Museum has his winter landscape.
11.
The link in the image will open a file 4,083 × 2,670 pixels, file size: 2.77 MB. vi http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hendrick_Avercamp_-_Skating_Scene_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Hendrik Averkamp 1620s, oil, 240x380 mm, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
12.
The link in the image will open a file 10,718 × 5,438 pixels, file size: 20.18 MB. via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hendrick_Avercamp_-_A_Scene_on_the_Ice_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Hendrik Averkamp. Scene on Ice, circa 1625, oil on panel, 39.2 x 77 mm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
13.
via the link in the image picture 4271×4226 px, file size 5.7 Mb, from here http://gallerix.ru/album/National-Gallery-London-3/pic/glrx-444597196
Hendrik Averkamp. Winter scene near the castle.
Sources are inside the text.
Earlier on the winter topic and about small winter Dutchmen: Snowball fights in Europe, 14th to 17th centuries:
The earliest mention of the word “horse” can be found in the “English-Dutch Dictionary” of GEMAHA (1648). The word “skates” came to international sports from the Russian language skates, runner skates, and hunchback skates. The front part of the wooden skates was decorated with a horse's head - hence the affectionate name, a diminutive of the word "horse": skates.
The first devices for moving on ice, which we know about from archaeological excavations and from literature, were made from animal bones. Such skate bones have been found in the Netherlands, Denmark, Bavaria, Bohemia, Switzerland, England, Norway, Sweden and the Soviet Union. Skates are one of the oldest inventions of mankind. Carved from wood or carved from animal bones and attached to a boot, skates made it possible to quickly move across ice-covered ground.
In Siberia they rode on walrus tusks, in China - on bamboo trunks. And the skates found by archaeologists in Kazakhstan near Borovoe Lake were made from the shin bone of a horse. A similar skate is kept in the London Museum - a long, sharpened bone with a slot for a lace. This skate was found in Moorefield in 1839. The British Museum displays bone skates that were used to skate almost two thousand years ago. These skates were found in the last century. And more recently, in 1967, on the banks of the Southern Bug and a dry estuary near Odessa, archaeologists discovered the most ancient skates ever found; these skates belonged to the Cimmerians, a nomadic tribe that lived 3,200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. The Chimerians were already skating during the Bronze Age. These devices were made from the bones of domestic animals. The bone was ground down on one side, and special holes were made at the ends for attaching to shoes.
The first skates were actually a prototype of skis and did not have pointed ribs. Repulsion had to be done using sticks. But still, movement on the ice-covered surface was much faster and more confident. Similar bone skates existed in ancient times, and archaeologists attribute some of them to the Stone Age. In age, they are superior to the “equipment” of the ancient Dutch and Danes in Scandinavia; skates appeared only in the Viking Age. Bone skates appeared in Russia almost 3 thousand years ago. During excavations in settlements and cities of ancient Rus' - Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod, Pskov - skates were found made from the bones of the front legs of horses. These skates had three holes - two for attaching the skate to the toe of the shoe and one for holding the skate at the heel. In the Netherlands, initially the role of a skate, along with animal bones, was played by a wooden shoe. Then metal runners began to be attached to such shoes.
In England during Shakespeare's time (until the beginning of the 16th century), bone skates were still used, not to mention Norway and Iceland, where they were held in high esteem until the end of the 19th century. But already in the 14th century, they learned how to make wooden skates with a metal strip on the sliding surface.
From the 13th to the mid-18th centuries, skates served as a means of transportation for people on frozen rivers, lakes and canals in the northern countries; the skate was made from a wooden base, to which a runner made of bronze or iron was first attached, and later from steel. The first to rivete skates to shoes was the Russian Emperor PETER I, who, while building ships in Holland, became interested in skates. He immediately realized that skates and shoes should form a single whole. Over the past four centuries, the wooden base of the ridge, as well as the runner, have changed mainly only in their length and shape.
The second half of the 19th century is characterized by the rapid development of speed skating throughout the world. In America, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Russia and other countries, skates of new designs are beginning to appear.
So, in Philadelphia (America) around 1850, all-metal steel skates were made. They were attached to the leg using straps. Then, in the second half of the 19th century, the oval plate on the heel of the skate was replaced with additional fastening brackets. And yet, until the 90s of the 19th century, wooden skates with a metal runner of Dutch and English production continued to be very popular. The next notable improvement was the invention of the Halifax skate, which
Its simplicity of design was superior to all other types of skates used previously. This skate has gained great popularity among speed skaters in many countries around the world.
Ice skating has become a favorite winter pastime, and therefore skating clubs began to open everywhere. In Russia, the first such club was opened in St. Petersburg in 1864 by the world-famous speed skater, the first unofficial world champion, Russian speed skater and figure skater A. Panshin. Simultaneously with the wide spread of skating and running, their improvement also took place.
Until 1883, figure skaters and speed skaters skated on all-metal short, heavy skates with a curved blade. Such skates, made by Tula craftsmen, were found during the construction of the Moscow metro.
Norwegian speed skaters A. PAULSEN and K. WERNER designed tubular racing skates in 1880. The front and rear metal platforms were screwed to the sole of the boot with six and four screws, respectively. This was a revolution in speed skating. A great contribution to the development of the shape of the skates was made by the Russian speed walker, an employee of the Nikolaev Railway, Alexander PANSHIN. In 1887, he made elongated skates based on his own model - all-metal, long skates with a narrow blade and a slightly curved toe - the prototype of today's running skates. For many decades, the model of tubular running skates has not undergone fundamental changes.
In 1892, the Norwegian H. Hagen proposed another innovation - a running skate consisting of a steel tube and a steel runner inserted into it. These skates made it possible to take a colossal step forward in the development of speed running; All the world's speed skaters still use these skates to this day.
The appearance of a new model of skates made by the Dutch companies Viking and Raps became a sensation. In 1996-1997 Some Dutch speed skaters began the competitive season on new model skates. Belgian Bart VELDKAMP, winner of the 1997 World Championships in the 10,000 m race, said: “Blindskate is the future of speed skating.”
First time I mentioned skating in literature, the Canterbury monk Stephanius, who in 1174 created the Chronicle of the Noble City of London. This is how he described winter fun: “When the large swamp, washing the city rampart at Moorfield from the north, freezes, whole groups of young people go there to play sports on ice. Some, walking as wide as possible, glide quickly. Others, more experienced in playing on ice, tie the shin bones of animals to their legs and, holding sticks with sharp tips in their hands, at times push off from the ice with them and rush as fast as a bird in the air or a spear launched from a ballista...” Beautiful wrote the monk, but, like many journalists, he apparently liked to make things up: is it really possible to run on skates at the speed of a spear? But let’s forgive the ancient recluse’s exaggeration. Let us be grateful to him for his work.
Exhibited in the British Museum bone skates, which were ridden almost two thousand years ago. These skates were found in the last century.
And in 1967, on the banks of the Southern Bug and a dry estuary near Odessa, archaeologists discovered the oldest skates ever found. These skates belonged to the Chimerians, a nomadic tribe that lived 3,200 years ago in the Northern Black Sea region. The Chimerians were already skating during the Bronze Age. In age, they are superior to the “equipment” of the ancient Dutch and Danes in Scandinavia; skates appeared only in the Viking Age.
Skates were known to the peoples of the northern countries back in the 12th century. Back then they were made from bone. They served as a means of transportation. Even in ancient times, people used pieces of wood and animal bones to quickly move across ice and snow. This is confirmed by the first ancient skates found during excavations on the shores of Lakes Ladoga and Lake Peipsi.
Over time, both the skates themselves and the method of movement on them improved. Animal bones were replaced with wooden blocks. First, their surface was polished, then metal strips began to be attached to it.
In the 13th century, skates with an iron runner curved in front appeared in Holland and Iceland. inserted into a wooden block. They were tied to their shoes with belts. And Russian craftsmen carved the curved toe of the skate in the form of a horse’s head, hence the name “skates”.
From the 14th century until the end of the 17th century, skates were made of wood with metal runners and attached to the sole of the shoe with ropes and belts. And at the very beginning of the 18th century, the first steel skates. Metal skates began to be made at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. And in the early 80s of the 19th century, Norwegian speed skaters K. Varnep and A. Paulsen designed racing skates.
Steel skates, tightly screwed to shoes, were made at the Tula Arms Factory by order of Peter I.
And in 1908, the first figure skating champion Nikolai Panin appeared in Russia. He also became the only winner of an Olympic gold medal in pre-revolutionary Russia and a five-time champion of our country in this sport. Since then, we have firmly held the world championship in figure skating, and the Russian school is rightfully considered the strongest.
First skating club opened - this is known for sure - in 1604 in the Scottish city of Edinburgh.
In 1763, athletes from Foggy Albion held the first international friendly meeting with American fast walkers.
The very first edition of the skating rules also published in England in 1772. It turns out that a hundred and fifty years ago certain principles of skating already existed.
This book was innovative. On one of the pages it is mentioned that for the first time, skates were riveted to boots by the Russian Emperor Peter the Great, who, while building ships in the Dutch forest port of Zaandam (now called Zaandam), became interested in speed skating in his “free time from work.”
A clarification is necessary here: skates have long been known to the Russian people, who were very fond of this useful pastime.
More than three hundred years ago, the English diplomat Carlyle, who visited Moscow, wrote: “The favorite winter pastime of Muscovites is ice skating.” And in the works of A.S. Pushkina, L.N. Tolstoy, A.I. Kuprin mentions this more than once.
Yes, skates lost popularity, for almost a hundred years there was no word about them in Russia, as they say... And only in the twenties of the 19th century the brilliant Pushkin (he was the first in the propaganda of skates!) sang a short song for them, but to this day unsurpassed anthem in "Autumn":
How fun it is to put sharp iron on your feet,
Slide along the mirror of standing, flat rivers...
In the twenties and thirties of the 19th century, skates were revived in Russia and even became fashionable.
The first skating rink “on land” was filled in 1842 in England Londoner Henry Kirke; Until that time, athletes used the ice of natural reservoirs...
Skates for children learning to master the art of gliding appeared in 1900 and had two runners...
