Izborsk (russian: Избо́рск; et, Irboska; vro, Irbosk, Irbuska, label=
Seto
Seto may refer to:
Places
* Seto, Aichi, production place of Japanese pottery and venue of Expo 2005
* Seto, Ehime, facing the Seto Inland Sea
*Seto, Okayama, adjacent to Okayama, in Okayama Prefecture
*Seto Inland Sea of Japan
* Setomaa (''Seto ...
) is a
rural locality
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
(
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
) in
Pechorsky District of
Pskov Oblast,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. It contains one of the most ancient and impressive
fortresses of
Western Russia
European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...
. The village lies to the west of
Pskov and just to the east of the
Russian-Estonian border.
History
According to the ''
Russian Primary Chronicle
The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...
'', the town was the seat of
Rurik's brother
Truvor
Sineus and Truvor were the brothers of Rurik, a chieftain of the Varangian Rus tribe considered to be the founder of the Rurik dynasty, which ruled the Kievan Rus'.
Description
According to the 12th-century Kievan ''Primary Chronicle'', a gro ...
from 862 to 864. Although his burial mound is still shown to occasional tourists, archaeological excavations of
long barrow
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repre ...
s abounding in the vicinity did not reveal the presence of the
Varangian
The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';[Varangian]
" Online Etymo ...
settlement at the site, which indicates that Izborsk was an important centre of the early
Krivichs
The Krivichs (Kryvichs) ( be, крывічы, kryvičý, ; rus, кри́вичи, p='krʲivʲɪtɕɪ, kríviči) were a tribal union of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 12th centuries. It is suggested that originally the Krivichi were na ...
.
The next mention of the town in Slavonic chronicles dates back to 1233, when the place was captured by the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword ( la, Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae, german: Schwertbrüderorden) was a Catholic military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theoderi ...
. In 1330, the Pskov
posadnik
Posadnik (Cyrillic: посадник, (literally: по-садник - ''pre-sident'') was the mayor in some East Slavic cities or towns. Most notably, the posadnik (equivalent to a stadtholder, burgomeister, or podestà in the medieval west) was ...
Sheloga constructed the Izborsk fortress on the top of Zheravya hill.
In 1348, the
Pskov Republic
Pskov ( la, Plescoviae), known at various times as the Principality of Pskov (russian: Псковское княжество, ) or the Pskov Republic (russian: Псковская Республика, ), was a medieval state on the south shore of ...
, which included Izborsk, separated from
Novgorod Republic
The Novgorod Republic was a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th centuries, stretching from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east, including the city of Novgorod and the Lake Ladoga regions of mod ...
. In 1399, it became a
viceroyalty
A viceroyalty was an entity headed by a viceroy. It dates back to the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century.
France
* Viceroyalty of New France
Portuguese Empire
In the scope of the Portuguese Empire, the term " Viceroyalt ...
of
Muscovy.
In the later 16th century, Izborsk was one of the smaller but strategically-important fortresses that protected the northwestern Russian borders from invasion. The fortress was supposed to be impregnable and so the seizure of it in 1569 by a small
Lithuanian regiment came as such a shock to
Ivan the Terrible. The relative ease and the suspicious circumstances of the seizure of the fortress deeply troubled the already-paranoid Ivan. In the dead of night, Teterin, a Russian turncoat disguised as an ''
oprichnik
Oprichnik (russian: опри́чник, , ''man aside''; plural ''Oprichniki'') was the designation given to a member of the Oprichnina, a bodyguard corps
established by Tsar Ivan the Terrible to govern a division of Russia from 1565 to 1572.
F ...
'', ordered the gates of the town be opened in the name of the ''
oprichnina
The oprichnina (russian: опри́чнина, ) was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in Russia between 1565 and 1572. The policy included mass repression of the boyars (Russian aristocrats), including public executions and ...
'', which allowed the enemy regiment to enter and overtake the fortress (the town of Izborsk, however, was never listed as territory in which ''oprichnina'' governance applied).
Though Ivan managed to retake the city with little difficulty, the treachery and the conspiracy involved in the original seizure led him to order the executions of the assistant crown secretaries of Izborsk, as well as the secretaries of the surrounding fortresses. With rumours of disaffection and growing discontent throughout the country on the rise, Ivan feared that other cities would soon follow the treasonous example of Izborsk. The proximity of the town to the cities of
Novgorod and
Pskov, coupled with the questionable implication of Novgorod's chancery administration in Teterin's plot, threw suspicion of
treachery and defection onto the already-distrusted city.
During the Siege of Pskov (1581), Izborsk was captured by the Lithuanian troops, but after the
Truce of Yam-Zapolsky (1582) handed over to the Muscovy.
After the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...
, Izborsk ceased to be a western borderline fortress of Russian. In 1708, it joined the newly-established
Governorate of Saint-Petersburg (until 1710 called
Ingermanland Governorate), where it was listed as the centre of
uyezd
An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...
in the
Pskov Province
Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: ...
. In 1727, all of Pskov Province was transferred to the
Novgorod Governorate
Novgorod Governorate (Pre-reformed rus, Новгоро́дская губе́рнія, r=Novgorodskaya guberniya, p=ˈnofɡərətskəjə ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə, t=Government of Novgorod), was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Ru ...
and was later transformed into a part of the larger
Pskov Governorate
Pskov Governorate (russian: link=no, Псковская губерния, ''Pskovskaya guberniya'') was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and Russian SFSR, which existed from 1772 until 1777 and from 1796 until ...
, where Izborsk was listed as a town until 1920.
In 1920, according to the
Treaty of Tartu, the Russian–Estonian state boundary went east of Izborsk and so the town became part of Estonia. From 1940 to 1945, the town remained within the
Estonian SSR (1941–1944 under
Nazi occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...
).
In 1945, the Russian-Estonian border was
redefined to resemble the pre-1918 borders between the
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
and Pskov Governorate, leaving Izborsk with the
Pskov Oblast of the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, now the
Russian Federation
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Fortress
Truvor's gorodishche is a settlement about half a kilometer north from the fortress that came about in the late 7th and early 8th century, and proceeded to grow twice in size in the 10th and 11th centuries. It was the predecessor of the Izborsk Fortress, protected by an oakwood wall which was later upgraded to stone, 3 meters in height by 3 meters in width in the 12th century.
To accommodate a larger capacity, the Izborsk Fortress was moved to its present location on the summit of Zheravya ("Crane") Hill
in the year 1303, and the Lukovka Tower was built from stone on the outer edge, standing at 13 meters in height, and 9.5 meters in diameter.
First wooden fortress on the current site was built in early XIV century. The most ancient extant structure is the Tower Lukovka (literally, "Onion Tower"). At that time it was the only stone building west of Pskov and adjoined a wooden wall. The walls surrounding the fortress were modified from wood to stone soon after, in 1330.
After seven other stone towers and the new stone wall were completed, Lukovka became a watch-tower and an armory.
The Nativity church within the fortress was built in the 16th century.
The walls were yet again thickened in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the towers were now compatible with cannons. The side that was most prone to attack was designed thicker than the others, at 5 meters in width, while the rest range from 2.5 to 3.7 meters. The towers were built at a maximum of 60 meters apart for reinforcement.
There were two entrances to the fortress, both constructed with a barbican. The Nikolski gate, which is the larger of the two, has an inner gate with a tower and a portcullis, and is 90 meters long and 5 meters wide. The Talavski entrance is 36 meters long and 4 meters wide. The fortress' southeast side was equipped an underground stone hallway that provided access to a spring well.
Early XVIII century the fortress lost its borderline status and was abandoned. Due to the inclement weather and climate of the region, the fortress faced deterioration.
First renovations of the deserted fortress were carried out in 1842 after the order approved by
Nicolas I
, house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp
, father = Paul I of Russia
, mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire
, death_date = ...
.
Recent restoration of the fortress, completed in 2012, was accompanied by gross embezzlement of money, and the fortress was severely damaged. On 15 March 2016, Grigory Pirumov, deputy minister of culture of Russia, and two other offices of the Ministry of Culture, were arrested on criminal charges related to the embezzlement.
The repair and archaeological works are still in process.
Near the fortress there is a museum of stone crosses.
Though Truvor's gorodishche is mostly destroyed, a small part of the wall remains today.
In 2002, the Izborsk Fortress was nominated to be a part of Russia's World Heritage Tentative List.
Cultural references
Izborsk is the namesake of the Eurasian think tank
Izborsky Club, founded in 2012 by
Alexander Prokhanov.
Notable people
*
Sergei Shtsherbakov (1871–1937), Estonian farmer and politician.
*
Valentin Strukov, Estonian politician, was born in Izborsk.
References
External links
Izborsk and PetseryLegends IzborskIzborsk Fortress project summaryat
Global Heritage Fund
Global Heritage Fund is a non-profit organization that operates internationally.
Founded in California, United States, California in 2002, its mission is to "transform local communities by investing in global heritage."
To date, it has partnere ...
Izborsk – Photo
{{Authority control
Rural localities in Pskov Oblast
Pskovsky Uyezd
Defunct towns in Russia