Narva Castle
Medieval Danish-founded castle on the Narva river, facing Ivangorod fortress across the water.
Narva Castle was founded by the Danes in the second half of the thirteenth century on the western bank of the Narva river, at the point where the medieval Livonian and Russian lands met. The Livonian Order bought the town and castle in 1346 and rebuilt the stronghold around a tall keep, the Long Hermann tower, which reached its present height of about fifty metres in stages up to the sixteenth century. Across the river stands the Russian fortress of Ivangorod, built in 1492 directly opposite.
The castle passed through Swedish and Russian hands and was badly damaged in 1944, when most of Narva was destroyed; restoration ran from the 1950s into the 1980s. It now houses Narva Museum, whose displays cover the town's history, the border fortifications and the Krenholm textile works. The bailey holds a reconstructed Northern Yard with craft workshops and a herb garden, and the tower can be climbed for views over the river and Ivangorod. The museum also runs an art gallery in the town.
Highlights
- Long Hermann keep rising about fifty metres above the river
- Direct view across the water to Ivangorod fortress
- Narva Museum's town history displays inside the castle
- Northern Yard with reconstructed craft workshops and gardens
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