Ivangorod

The general description
The town of Ivangorod is located in Leningrad area on the eastern coast of the river of Narva.

The name of the town came from the name of an ancient fortress constructed in 1492 on the German boundary under a command of the great prince Ivan Vasiljevich. During more than two centuries this fortress served as a board of Russian grounds, being a powerful advanced post on its western border.

Ivangorod was a boundary town, when opposite to it on the other coast of the river Narva there was the town of Livonian knights Rugodiv (so Russian named Narva). And today Ivangorod appeared again a boundary town, when Narva became a part of the next state of Estonia. By the entrance in Ivangorod, near the bridge through the river Narva recently a new building of state customs house was constructed.

Until recently, when Ivangorod and Narva belonged to the same state - USSR, they were economically very closely connected, had common municipal services, common water and power resources, many inhabitants of Ivangorod worked at the enterprises of Narva. So the break was very difficult, especially for Ivangorod.

But it would be necessary to trust, that the times of good neighbourhood of two ancient towns left not for ever, and the building of today's customs house sometime will become only a historical monument, as well as ancient Ivangorodskaja fortress on the Devichja (Maiden) mountain.

Pages of history

In the 15th century the new trade ways acquired a greater importance for connection of Russia with the West. There were the trade through the towns and ports of the Livonia: Narva, Revel (Tallinn), Derpt (Jurjev, Tartu) and Riga. Russia interested in an access to Baltic ports and in direct trade contact with the countries of Central and Western Europe, but there were the obstacles from Livonia. The knights, making constantly the raids to Russian towns, in 1482 concluded a truce with Moscow for the period of 10 years. In 1492, when the term of the truce became to expire, Russian founded a stone fortress Ivangorod on the coast of the boundary river Narova. These stone fortifications were erected on a place of an ancient Russian settlement on the Devichja (Maiden) mountain opposite to Narva.

After an attack of the Swedes on Ivangorod in 1496, the Moscow authorities developed the works on the strengthening of the fortress and on its further perfection. In the third quarter of the 16th century Ivangorod had already three fortified parts and the settlement, enclosed by the wooden wall. The construction was conducted in some stages, and Ivangorod turned to a technically advanced fortress, protecting the western border of Russia from intrusion of Livonia knights. The town grew fast. Here there was also the resident.

In 1558 the war with Livonia begun Russia hoped to win and receive the access to Baltic coast. From the fortress of Ivangorod the Russian came forward to Narva. After the capture of Narva and further successful military actions of Russia in Livonia, the Livonia broken up, but almost all of its lands passed to Poland and Sweden. Therefore the war turned to war with Poland, Lithuania and Sweden.

In 1581 the Swedes seized Ivangorod, Narva, Koporje and Jam. Further during this war Ivangorod some times passed from Russia to Sweden and again to Russia, while in 1617 the under very unprofitable for Russia peace agreement, Ivangorod was among the other towns and grounds passed to Sweden. The occupation proceeded about hundred years.

Russia could not reconcile with loss of its grounds. Northern war of 1700-1721 begun by Peter I was the struggle for the liberation from Swedish authority in the north-west of Russia and for an access to the Baltic sea. In 1704 Ivangorod was released. In 1708 the new administrative division of Russia was introduced by Peter I, and the towns of the north-west including Ivangorod entered into Ingermanlandskaja province, which in 1710 renamed St.-Petersburg.

The victorious end of the Northern war changed a situation of the north-west Russian towns. Ivangorod, as well as Koporje, Oreshek and Korela, lost its importance as an advanced post of Russia, as the border was removed far to the north and west. The towns of St.-Petersburg province economically developed differently. By the end of the 18th century in Ivangorod there was only flax-spinning factory, but the various crafts, including fishing, wood and potter's were widely advanced. The town provided with labour the next Narva, having well advanced industry.

In soviet time Ivangorod was considered as the worker settlement, in 1954 it received the status of the town of regional submission.

Places of interest

The main sight of Ivangorod is its fortress, which till now amazes by its monumentality and power. It is located on abrupt slopes of the Devichja mountain, this place is difficult and picturesque. The mountain is washed from three sides by the fast river Narva, and from the fourth side there is a deep ravine. This fortress was completed and extended from the 15th to 17th centuries and represented a complex of defensive structures.

The fortress consists of three parts with the names of the 17th century. 1. The Castle (the small western part of Ivangorod, begins from the cliff and extends up to the river to Narva).

2. The Large Bojarshy City (the eastern large part of the fortress with seven towers).

3. The Peredny (Forward) city (the fortress structures attached to the northern-western part of the Large Bojarshy city). The earthen fortification adjoined to the Peredny city, this is the Bojarsky mound, poured and faced by a stone in the 17th century.

To understand the complex structure of these defensive fortifications, it is necessary to recollect a sequence and purpose of the main building stages during the erection of one of outstanding ancient Russian stone fortresses.

Only the fragments of the fortress created in 1492 were survived to our time. It was the quadrangle fortress with four square towers on its corners, with walls three meters wide combined from local limestone. The walls had cogs, in which the loop-holes were placed. This fortress was built under the last achievements of military-engineering art, that time in Russia there were not the similar fortresses.

But the small sizes of this fortress did not allow to place necessary number of military garrison in it, and the free territory of the Devichja mountain, on the contrary, allowed to enemy to concentrate here a large army for storm. In 1496 under the instruction of Moscow government the works on reconstruction of these defensive fortifications began. Only for 12 weeks the works were completed. To east part of the former fortress the new rectangular fortress, considerably superior on the sizes, subsequently received the name of the Large Bojarshy city, was adjoined. Thus, two angular towers of the old fortress of 1492 appeared as though in the wall of new. Nowadays it is well seen, the contours of towers and also the line of ancient cogs on the wall are visible.

The Large Bojarshy city was extended from the west to the east, its wall was 617 meters long. On the corners there were four round towers, between which there were the rectangular towers. Two towers, in which there were the gates, were survived to our time already in the reconstructed shape. So on a place of Vorotnaja tower in the 16th century the octagonal Otvodnaja tower was built. It was a trap for the enemy, as it hadn't a covering, and from the loop-holes of the fortress wall was easily exposed to fire. In the 19th century this tower was restored.

The ladders in the Proviantskaja and Vorotnaja towers (were named so in the 17th century) are interesting. They were in thicker of tower walls, but just in that part, which was inverted inside of the fortress to prevent a destruction of more thin parts of walls during artillery bombardment. Thus, after the termination of the construction of 1496 Ivangorod consist of two parts: the western - the fortress of 1492 and the east - the Large Bojarshy city. In 1502 the fortress successfully repulsed an attack of large Livonia group.

In 1507 the works on strengthening of the fortress proceeded. To the Large Bojarshy city from the west and up to the cliff of the river Narova the new fortification was adjoined. Subsequently it received the name the Castle and absorbed completely the initial fortress of 1492. Two interesting towers were constructed in the walls of the Castle, one - the Kolodeznaja (in it there was a hiding place - the well), other - the highest Porokhovaja, from the platform of which the river and the Livonia's Narva were visible. The written documents kept the names of the founders of the Castle, these were the Russian foreman Vladimir Tarakan and the foreign architect Markus Greek. During all the 16th century the works on improvement and strengthening of the fortress were conducted.

In the 17th century the construction was completed by an extension of the Peredny city to the northern-western part of the fortress. As a result of the construction of Peredny city with its two towers (the tower of Namestnika (Resident) and the Dlinnoshejaja tower), the whole territory of the Devichja mountain was built up. Ivangorod became even more unapproachable defensive fortification.

As a result of this some-stages construction, Ivangorod turned into a technically advanced fortress.

In spite of the fact that the fortress ensemble was formed during a significant period of time (from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century), the Ivangorod fortress represents a logically completed architectural product.