Narva Falls () is a

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

on the

Narva River The Narva, formerly also Narwa or Narova, flows north into the Baltic Sea and is the largest Estonian river by discharge. A similar length of land far to the south, together with it and a much longer intermediate lake, Lake Peipus, all togeth ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Between the southeast part of the city of

Narva Narva is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in the Ida-Viru County, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia border, E ...

and the rest, facing the Russian city of

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; ; ) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia international border, west of Sain ...

, the Narva flows over the

Baltic Klint The Baltic Klint (Clint, Glint; , , ) is an erosional limestone escarpment and cuesta on several islands of the Baltic Sea, in Estonia, in Leningrad Oblast of Russia and in the islands of Gotland and Öland of Sweden. It was featured on the reve ...

, forming Narva Falls, once among the most powerful in Europe. Before the water reaches the falls, it is split into two branches by the

Kreenholm Kreenholm ( for ''crow islet'') is a river island in Estonia, located in the Narva River, within the city limits of Narva. The island is in area, and is long and wide. The island divides Narva Falls into eastern and western branches; the Est ...

island, thus the falls consist of two sections. ''Kreenholm Falls'', west of the island, is wide and high with multiple terraces. Joala Falls, to the east, is wide and up to high. The Estonian–Russian border follows the eastern branch and goes through Joala Falls. Since the creation of the

Narva Reservoir Narva Reservoir (; ) is a reservoir by the Narva River, shared by Russia and Estonia. The reservoir was constructed during 1955–1956, during the Soviet era. It provides water to Narva Hydroelectric Station (installed capacity 125 MW, located ...

in 1955, the waterfall is usually dry, but water is allowed to flow in the original channel for up to a few days every year. Access to the waterfall is difficult because it is located in the border zone, and the surrounding area on the Estonian side is closed industrial land belonging to the Krenholm Manufacturing Company.

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Waterfalls of Russia Waterfalls of Estonia Narva {{Estonia-stub

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