Vasknarva (, Syrenets; ) is a village in

Alutaguse Parish Alutaguse Parish () is a rural municipality in Ida-Viru County. The administrative centre is Iisaku.http://www.alutagusevald.ee/ (accessed 5 March 2020) Settlements ;Boroughs Iisaku, Mäetaguse ;Villages There are 73 villages: Religion ...

Ida-Viru County Ida-Viru County ( or ; ) is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. It is the most northeastern part of the country. The county contains large deposits of oil shale the main mineral mined in Estonia. Oil shale is used in the production of shale oil ...

in northeastern

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 ...

Geography

The settlement is located on the northern shore of

Lake Peipus Lake Peipus is the largest trans-boundary lake in Europe, lying on the international border between Estonia and Russia. The lake is the fifth-largest in Europe after Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (in Russia), Lake Vänern (in Sweden), and Lake ...

, on the left bank of 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 ...

headwaters forming the border with

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 ...

. Vasknarva has a population of 40 (as of 2011), most of them are Orthodox

Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists ( Russian: староверы, ''starovery'' or старообрядцы, ''staroobryadtsy'') is the common term for several religious groups, which maintain the old liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian ...

. Nearly the entire population is Russian-speaking. There is a small boat harbour, a

border guard A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In diff ...

cordon, a nunnery and the St. Elijah Orthodox church. By its architecture Vasknarva is a common Peipsi Russian

linear village In mathematics, the term ''linear'' is used in two distinct senses for two different properties: * linearity of a '' function'' (or '' mapping''); * linearity of a ''polynomial''. An example of a linear function is the function defined by f(x)= ...

where one-storey wooden buildings are situated side by side just beside the street. The Peipus lakeshore and the extended forests in the surrounding area are a popular destination for daytrippers. On the other bank of Narva River there is the Russian locality of Skamya, part of Slantsevsky District.

History

The name is derived from

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

: ''Vask'', "

Copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

", and the Narva River. According to etymology, it referred to the copper roof of the medieval castle. According to the Estonian ethnologist, A. Moora, in her book ''Peipsimaa Etnlisest Ajaloost'', (About the Ethnic History of Peipsiland, published in 1964 by the Institute of History of the Estonian SSR Academy of Sciences), the name is derived from the Votian word for "new" and denotes a new Narva fortress. Local lore has it that Saint Olga of Pskov (c. 890 – 969) narrowly escaped drowning when crossing the Narva rapids. Vasknarva linnus 2014 02

Prohvet Eeliase kirik Vasknarvas 2014 01

The village arose in 14th century next to an ''

Ordensburg ''Ordensburg'' (plural ''Ordensburgen'') is a German language, German term meaning a "castle of a (military) order". It is used specifically for the fortified structures built by Crusades, crusading German Military order (religious society), m ...

'' of the Livonian Brothers, erected in 1349 on the northeastern border of their

Terra Mariana Terra Mariana (Medieval Latin for 'Land of Mary (mother of Jesus), Mary') was the formal name for Medieval Livonia or Old Livonia. It was formed in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade, and its territories were composed of present-day Estonia a ...

territory. Demolished by

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

troops, a new castle (

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

: ''Nyslott''; Estonian: ''Vastne-Narva'') was built at the site from 1427 to 1442, which became the administrative centre of a Livonian ''

Vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei'' (''Vasknarva foogtkond''). The castle was again wracked during the Siege of Narva in 1558, when the Livonian Confederation perished in the

Livonian War The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...

. Occupied by

Pontus De la Gardie Baron Pontus De la Gardie ( – 5 November 1585) was a French nobleman and general in the service of Denmark and Sweden. Life and career He was born Ponce d'Escouperie in Caunes-Minervois (Aude), Languedoc, a son of Jacques Escoperier and X ...

in 1581 and rebuilt under Swedish rule, it remained a fort of great importance, commanding the mouth of the Narva River and the border with the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

. Finally, it was completely destroyed in the Russo-Swedish

Ingrian War The Ingrian War () was a conflict fought between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia which lasted between 1610 and 1617. It can be seen as part of Russia's Time of Troubles, and is mainly remembered for the attempt to put a Swedish duk ...

of 1610–17 and abandoned. Already decayed during the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, the remnants were formally handed over to the Russians by the 1721

Treaty of Nystad The Treaty of Nystad, or the Treaty of Uusikaupunki, was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of Russia and the Swedish Empire on in the then Swedish town of Nystad (, in th ...

. The former castle's stones were used for reconstruction of the fishing village, which has been known in Russian chronicles either as ''Syrensk'' or ''Syrenets''. A

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

church building dedicated to the prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

was erected in 1818. Parts of the three-meter thick walls of the fortress have survived, mainly on the northern side.

Notable people

American literary scientist

Temira Pachmuss Temira Pachmuss (24 December 1927 in Vasknarva, Ida-Viru County – 1 May 2007 in Urbana, Illinois) was a Russian-American philologist. In 1939, her family moved to Germany. In the 1950s, she moved to Australia. In 1955, he moved to USA. In 1959 ...

(1927–2007) was born in Vasknarva.

Jegor Solovjov Jegor Solovjov (also spelled Georgi Solovjov, Jegor Solovjev, Jegor Solovjev; 11 November 1871, Vasknarva – 29 January 1942, Gorky Oblast, Russian SSR) was an Estonian politician. Solovjov was born in 1871 in Vasknarva (now Alutaguse Parish), ...

(1871–1942) was an Estonian politician also born in Vasknarva.

References

External links

Vasknarva Castle
at Estonian Manors Portal {{Alutaguse Parish Villages in Ida-Viru County Kreis Wierland