Ivangorod Fortress

Subject / Architecture/Fortresses and other fortifications
Ivangorod Fortress (The Ivangorod Town is located on the right bank of river Narova) This fortress was founded in 1492 on the Devichiya Hill(Maiden Hill) and it is located opposite the castle order Narva. The fortress was named in honour of grand prince Ivan III . The fortress was a outpost and the first harbour sea of Russia in the Baltic sea with the end of the XV to the beginning of the XVIII. The history of the fortress is closely linked with periods of exacerbations Russian-Livonian relations. In 1492-99 were built the "quadrangular" fortress (1680 sq.m.), which was conceived as Detinets and the " town" (25,2 thousand sq.m). They were founded at the same time. The works were done under the guidance of boyar Yakov Zakharyin (Koshkin), with the participation of Italian masters. The fortress for a short time was occupied by the Swedes in 1496, then it was restored and the walls and towers of the "town" were finished. The square fortress with four rectangular towers at the corners (height 12 m) refers to the Castelnau type which was circulated in architecture of the castles. The "Town" (later Big Boyar Town) is a rectangle 108 x 241 m. Of his 7- 4 round towers are located on the corners and 3 rectangular towers (2 Gate towers) along the axes in the middle of the three sides. There are the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin and the church St. Nikolas wonder-worker inside the Town. Both parts of the fortress are resemble to each other by the masonry technique, the regularity of the plan, evenly spaced around the perimeter of defense the towers with straight-line PRYSLA between them, two-horned merlons, the chamber windows simular, the embrasures, etc. The Livonian orders could not to take the fortress during the war of 1501-03 .
The "quadrangular" fortress was surrounded by the new stone walls and were built the powerful corner towers by Master Vladimir Torgkanom and Marcus Greco in 1507-09. The ruins of this castle are survived until our time inside the new fortifications, which are called the "Castle". The walls and towers of the Big Boyar Town were built at the same time. The Front Town was built from the side of the posad to it. The south-eastern front of the fortress was re-built. After the end of reconstruction of the Ivangorod Fortress was signed the peace treaty with the Grand Principality of Lithuania and with the Livon order in 1509. The Ground (Boyarsky) wall was raised in front of the Front Town in 1556-58 and it completed the formation of the fortress ensemble. In 1583-95 and in 1613-1704 the fortress was under authority by the Swedes. The Fortress was returned to Russia in 1704, during the North War. The architectonical and the archaeological research of the monument were realized by the GP Research Institute SpetsProektRestovratsia (The project leader Haustova I.A.). The archeological digs were relized by the Ioannisyan O.M. in 1978, Petrenko V.P. in 1980-91, Kurbatov A.V. in 1992-95,Lipatov A.A. in 2004. During the archeological dig the stone and wooden buildings, farm buildings, shops, yards, lots of streets, cobbled stone were found. They are dated with the end of the XV - XVI centuries. The Ivangorod historical, architectural and art museum was founded after restoration work in 1980. Plotkin, Konstantin Moiseyevich
Grek, Markus
Ioannisyan, Oleg Mikhaylovich
Ivan III Vasilyevich, Grand Prince
Khaustova, Irena Aleksandrovna
Kurbatov, Aleksandr Valentinovich
Lipatov, Aleksey Anatolyevich
Petrenko, Valery Petrovich
Torgkan, Vladimir
Zakharyin (Koshkin), Yakov Zakharyevich
Topographical landmarks/Devichya gora
Leningrad Oblast, the/Ivangorod Town
Topographical landmarks/Narva River, the
Крепость Ивангород. Новые открытия / Сост. М.И. Мильчик. СПб., 1997
Липатов А.А. Археологические исследования на территории Ивангородской крепости в 2004 году // Реликвия. № 3 (10). 2005., С.56-62
Ivangorod History Architecture and Art Museum
The Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God (Ivangorod Town)