Location: Pechorsky District, Pskov Oblast Map
Found: 1303
Izborsk Castle is located in Pechorsky District, Pskov Oblast in North- West Russia. Situated on the North- Western border of Kiev's Rus (Medieval Russia) Izborsk Castle was an important outpost against Western and Northern invaders from Scandinavia. Russian chronicles mention Izborsk in 862 as a seat of Truvor, brother of Viking Rurik, the first prince to rule Russian Slav tribes. In 1233 Livonian Brothers of the Sword managed to take Izborsk during Northern Crusades against Orthodox Christians and pagans of the North. Izborsk fortress was moved in 1303 to a current location. During 14th and 15th centuries the new fort survived eight sieges and didn't fell to the enemy forces, thus giving Izborsk a nickname of an "iron city".
Ancient Izborsk was founded at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries
on the spit of the lake cape, this settlement was later called the
Truvorovo settlement. In the 9th century, the fortification was small
and covered an area of 4500 m².
In the 10th century, Izborsk
developed from a proto-city, the tribal center of the Krivichi, into an
early medieval city, a major center of crafts and trade. In the
11th-13th centuries, the wooden fortress was rebuilt into a stone one.
In 1233 and in the summer of 1240, the Germans captured Izborsk
twice, and in 1240 the knights stormed the fortress on the second day of
the siege. The Pskovites drove out the German knights only after the
victory of the troops of Alexander Nevsky on the ice of Lake Peipsi in
1242.
At the beginning of the 14th century, in order to
strengthen the settlement, the fortress was rebuilt in a new place 1.5
km from the old one - first wooden, and in 1330 the Pskov posadnik
Shelogoy was rebuilt into stone.
In 1342, the fortress was under
siege by the Livonians for eleven days, but was never taken. The Germans
also left with nothing, who in the summer of 1367 kept the city in the
enclosure for 18 days, using battering rams.
In 1581, Izborsk was
taken by the troops of Stefan Batory. During the Time of Troubles, the
fortress withstood the troops of Alexander Lisovsky, and after the
Northern War it lost its military significance.
By the middle of
the 19th century, devastation reigned in the fortress, and only in 1842,
by order of Emperor Nicholas I, the fortress walls were repaired and a
new cathedral bell tower was built.
The Izborsk fortress is part
of the Izborsk Museum-Reserve and is the object of a museum inspection.
Research and restoration work is constantly being carried out on the
territory of the fortress.
First fortress
The first stone fortress (XI-XII century) had two
gates: the western one for communication with the settlement and the
eastern one, which led to the Gorodishchenskoye Lake, where the pier and
the market were located. The earthen rampart from the floor side reached
a height of 6 meters, the stone wall of the promontory part of the
settlement was up to 3 m wide and 3 m high. The small tower, attached to
the defensive wall, was built of flagstone; the thickness of its walls
was at least 1.5 meters; it ended with a pit superstructure with a
conical roof. Next to the tower, there was a hidden tunnel in the wall,
0.8 m wide and 1 m high, from the outside it was covered with limestone.
Second fortress
Moved to a new location in the 1330s, the “second
fortress” originally had a wooden fortification, with the exception of
the only Lukovka tower, which adjoined the eastern wall. It had a round
base, the outer diameter of which was 9.5 m, and was about 13 m high. In
the southeastern side of the fortress there was a narrow corridor up to
40 m long, laid at a depth of 16 m underground. It connected the
fortified city with the foot of the cape. Its walls and gabled vaults
were lined with flagstone, the exit was surrounded by a log house and
turned into a well.
At the beginning of the 15th century, the
fortress walls were rebuilt on stone (made of limestone), and the
"stepping" wall, which had the shape of a convex arc, became
two-layered. A deep ditch filled with water was dug along the
fortification. Also, several stone towers were added to the fortress,
intended for artillery fire. Then the area of the territory enclosed by
the fortress walls was 2.4 hectares and had a total length of the walls
up to 850 meters. The thickness of the walls at that time was up to 3
meters.
At the beginning of the next century, Izborsk was again
fortified - the walls were additionally thickened along the entire
perimeter of the fortress. As a result, their width increased from an
average of 2.5 m to 3.7 m (on the sides) and even up to 5 m on the
"attack" side. As a result, the plan of the fortress took the form of an
irregular triangle with rounded corners and six conical towers. Its area
was about 15 thousand m². All the towers were located at a distance from
each other, which did not exceed 60 m, and, with the exception of
Lukovka, they were strongly moved towards the field. This ensured
effective shelling of the area around the fortress.
The
north-western corner tower "Ploskushka" is the only one that had a
rectangular shape in plan. Its dimensions are 8.5 × 9.5 m, height -
about 15 m. It consisted of five tiers for fighting and an attached
zahab, which was a narrow passage between the walls about 4 m wide and
36 m long. The rest of the towers of the fortress were in plan round.