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History See also: Timeline of Pskov"
Early history Pskov is one of the oldest cities in Russia. The name of the
city, originally Pleskov, may be loosely translated as "[the town] of
purling waters". It was historically known in English as Plescow. Its
earliest mention comes in 903, which records that Igor of Kiev married a local
lady, St. Olga. Pskovians sometimes take this year as the city's foundation
date, and in 2003 a great jubilee took place to celebrate Pskov's 1,100th
anniversary. The first prince of Pskov was Vladimir the Great's youngest son
Sudislav. Once imprisoned by his brother Yaroslav, he was not released until
the latter's death several decades later. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the
town adhered politically to the Novgorod Republic. In 1241, it was taken by the
Teutonic Knights, but Alexander Nevsky recaptured it several months later
during a legendary campaign dramatized in Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 movie
Alexander Nevsky. In order to secure their independence from the knights, the
Pskovians elected a Lithuanian prince, named Daumantas, a Roman Catholic
converted to Orthodox faith and known in Russia as Dovmont, as their military
leader and prince in 1266. Having fortified the town, Daumantas routed the
Teutonic Knights at Rakvere and overran much of Estonia. His remains and sword
are preserved in the local kremlin, and the core of the citadel, erected by
him, still bears the name of "Dovmont's town".
Pskov Republic Main article:
Pskov Republic By the 14th century, the town functioned as the capital of a de
facto sovereign republic. Its most powerful force was the merchants who traded
with the Hanseatic League. Pskov's independence was formally recognized by
Novgorod in 1348. Several years later, the veche promulgated a law code (called
the Pskov Charter), which was one of the principal sources of the all-Russian
law code issued in 1497. For Russia, the Pskov Republic was a bridge towards
Europe; for Europe, it was a western outpost of Russia. Already in the 13th
century German merchants were present in Zapskovye area of Pskov and the
Hanseatic League had a trading post in the same area in the first half of 16th
century which moved to Zavelichye after a fire in 1562. The wars with Livonian
Order, Poland-Lithuania and Sweden interrupted the trade but it was maintained
until the 17th century, with Swedish merchants gaining the upper hand
eventually. The importance of the city made it the subject of numerous sieges
throughout its history. The Pskov Krom (or Kremlin) withstood twenty-six sieges
in the 15th century alone. At one point, five stone walls ringed it, making the
city practically impregnable. A local school of icon-painting flourished, and
the local masons were considered the best in Russia. Many peculiar features of
Russian architecture were first introduced in Pskov.
Part of Muscovy:
Finally, in 1510, the city was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Three
hundred families were deported from Pskov to central Russia and merchants and
military families from Muscovy were settled in the city. At this time Pskov had
at least 6,500 households and the population of more than 30,000 and was one of
the three biggest cities of Muscovy, alongside Moscow and Novgorod. The
deportation of noble families to Moscow under Ivan IV in 1570 is a subject of
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Pskovityanka (1872). Pskov still attracted enemy armies
and it withstood a prolonged siege by a 50,000-strong Polish army during the
final stage of the Livonian War (1581–1582). The king of Poland Stephen
Báthory undertook some thirty-one attacks to storm the city, which was
defended mainly by civilians. Even after one of the city walls was broken, the
Pskovians managed to fill the gap and repel the attack. "A big city, it is
like Paris", wrote Báthory's secretary about Pskov. The estimates
of the population of Pskov land in the middle of 16th century range from 150 to
300 thousand. Famines, epidemics (especially the epidemic of 1552) and the
warfare led to a five-fold decrease of the population by 1582-1585 due to
mortality and migration. The city withstood a siege by the Swedes in 1615. The
successful defence of the city led to the peace negotiations culminating in the
Treaty of Stolbovo.
Modern history:
Peter the Great's conquest of Estonia and Livonia during the Great Northern War
in the early 18th century spelled the end of Pskov's traditional role as a
vital border fortress and a key to Russia's interior. As a consequence, the
city's importance and well-being declined dramatically, although it served as a
seat of separate Pskov Governorate since 1777. During World War I, Pskov became
the center of much activity behind the lines. It was at a railroad siding in
Pskov, aboard the imperial train, that Tsar Nicholas II signed the manifesto
announcing his abdication in March 1917, and after the Russo-German
Brest-Litovsk Peace Conference (December 22, 1917 – March 3, 1918), the
Imperial German Army invaded the area. Pskov was also occupied by the Estonian
army between 25 May 1919 and 28 August 1919 during the Estonian War of
Independence when the White Russian commander Stanislaw Bulak-Balachowicz
became the military administrator of Pskov. He personally ceded most of his
responsibilities to a democratically elected municipal duma and focused on both
cultural and economical recovery of the war-impoverished city. He also put an
end to censorship of press and allowed for creation of several socialist
associations and newspapers. Under the Soviet government, large parts of the
city were rebuilt, many ancient buildings, particularly churches, were
demolished to give space for new constructions. During World War II, the
medieval citadel provided little protection against modern artillery of
Wehrmacht, and Pskov suffered substantial damage during the German occupation
from July 9, 1941 until July 23, 1944. A huge portion of the population died
during the war, and Pskov has since struggled to regain its traditional
position as a major industrial and cultural center of Western Russia.
Landmarks and sights:
Dozens of similar quaint little churches are scattered throughout Pskov. Pskov
still preserves much of its medieval walls, built from the 13th century on. Its
medieval citadel is called either the Krom or the Kremlin. Within its walls
rises the 256-foot-tall (78 m) Trinity Cathedral, founded in 1138 and rebuilt
in the 1690s. The cathedral contains the tombs of saint princes Vsevolod (died
in 1138) and Dovmont (died in 1299). Other ancient cathedrals adorn the
Mirozhsky Monastery (completed by 1152), famous for its 12th-century frescoes,
St. John's (completed by 1243), and the Snetogorsky monastery (built in 1310
and stucco-painted in 1313). Pskov is exceedingly rich in tiny, squat,
picturesque churches, dating mainly from the 15th and the 16th centuries. There
are many dozens of them, the most notable being St. Basil's on the Hill (1413),
St. Kozma and Demian's near the Bridge (1463), St. George's from the Downhill
(1494), Assumption from the Ferryside (1444, 1521), and St. Nicholas' from
Usokha (1536). The 17th-century residential architecture is represented by
merchant mansions, such as the Salt House, the Pogankin Palace, and the
Trubinsky mansion. Among the sights in the vicinity of Pskov are Izborsk, a
seat of Rurik's brother in the 9th century and one of the most formidable
fortresses of medieval Russia; the Pskov Monastery of the Caves, the oldest
continually functioning monastery in Russia (founded in the mid-15th century)
and a magnet for pilgrims from all over the country; the 16th-century Krypetsky
Monastery; Yelizarov Convent, which used to be a great cultural and literary
center of medieval Russia; and Mikhaylovskoye, a family home of Alexander
Pushkin where he wrote some of the best known lines in the Russian language.
The national poet of Russia is buried in the ancient cloister at the Holy
Mountains nearby. Unfortunately, the area presently has only a minimal tourist
infrastructure, and the historic core of Pskov requires serious investments to
realize its great tourist potential. On 7 July 2019, the Churches of the Pskov
School of Architecture was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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