Ivangorod Fortress

The Ivangorod fortress was built in the summer of 1492 on the personal orders of Ivan III — 'and he named it Ivangorod after himself', the chronicler recorded. The site was chosen with rare convenience: the Maiden Hill on the right bank of the Narva, directly opposite the Livonian fortress which the Danes had held on the left bank since the thirteenth century, later expanded and strengthened by the Livonian Order. The fortress became a tête-de-pont — a fortification bridgehead — of the Russian tsardom on its western border, twelve versts from the Gulf of Finland. Its uniqueness is that it was built from scratch: the builders were constrained neither by old walls nor by town development, as in Novgorod and other towns of the time. The initial size was so small that it bred a legend: the bounds of the future fortress were traced with a strap stretched from thin strips of the hide of a single horse. The small size could not hold a numerous garrison, and the space between the river and the walls eased sieges for the enemy — so the fortress soon began to grow. Today the Ivangorod fortress together with the Narva castle forms a fortress ensemble unique in Northern Europe: two medieval fortresses face each other across the river. From the Russian viewpoints the Narva castle is seen in full — a rare chance to look at 'the other side' without crossing the border. The first years of its existence tested the young fortress already in 1496, and since then its walls were rebuilt several times, keeping the spirit of the turn of the fifteenth century. A tour of the fortress takes half a day: towers, the cathedral, climbs on the walls and museum displays. After the visit walk down to the Narva and stand on the bank — the view of 'fortress against fortress' is strongest here; the border regime keeps the river empty, and the silence is doubled — by the centuries of confrontation and by the present-day border.