Ivangorod is a small town in Leningrad Oblast, sitting right at the Estonian border at the Narva River, opposite the Estonian city of Narva. Ivangorod was for most of its history more or less in municipal union with Narva, as the junior partner. It has been much more difficult to move back and forth across the Narva river following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the ensuing poor relations between Russian and Estonia, which has divided the populace (and somewhat stranded those on the Russian side from the city’s actual center). History : The fortress, established in 1492 during the reign of Ivan III of Moscow, took its name (literally: Ivan-town — gorod in Russian means “town” or “city”) from that of the Tsar. Between 1581 and 1590 and from 1612 to 1704, Sweden controlled the area. Ivangorod was granted town privileges and administered as a Russian township under the Crown of Sweden (who conquered it in 1612 from boyar Teuvo Aminev) until 1649, when its burghers were ordered to remove to a Narva suburb. In 1617 Russia and Sweden signed the Treaty of Stolbovo, which placed the area under Swedish sovereignty. Russia reconquered it during the Great Northern War in 1704. Despite other changes in territory and sovereignty, Ivangorod was considered an administrative part of the town of Narva from 1649 until 1945. In 1780, Ivangorod, together with Narva, was included into Narvsky Uyezd of St. Petersburg Governorate. In 1796, Narvsky Uyezd was abolished and merged into Yamburgsky Uyezd.
During the Estonian War of Independence (1918-1920), the newly independent Republic of Estonia established control over the whole of Narva, including Ivangorod, in January 1919, a move which Soviet Russia recognized in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu. In January 1945 Soviet authorities defined the Narva River as the border between the Estonian SSR and Russian SFSR, and as a result the administration of Ivangorod transferred from Narva to the Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast. Having grown in population, Ivangorod gained town status on October 28, 1954.
After the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991, there have been some disputes about the Estonian-Russian border in the Narva area, as the new constitution of Estonia (adopted in 1992) recognizes the 1920 Treaty of Tartu border to be currently legal. The Russian Federation, however, regards Estonia as a successor of the Estonian SSR and recognizes the 1945 border between two former national republics. Officially, Estonia has no territorial claims in the area, which is also reflected in the new Estonian-Russian border treaty, according to which Ivangorod remains a part of Russia. Although the foreign ministers of Estonia and Russia signed the treaty in 2005, due to continuing political tensions it has not been ratified
Access : Coordinates: 59.366667, 28.216667 / Attention! : Ivangorod is included in the border zone. It is most convenient to visit the city with a Schengen visa, which allows you to see Estonian Narva at the same time. If you do not have a visa or permission to visit border areas, the chances of getting to Ivangorod are relatively small: buses and cars are usually checked at a checkpoint, and at the railway station, and so the border guards sit. For questions about the issue of passes, you can contact the information and tourist center of the Leningrad region (St. Petersburg, Zamshina str., 6 phone +7 (812) 458-73-28, +7 (812) 458-73-27). On border crossings to Estonia see the article Narva.
By train : A local train from St. Petersburg runs once a day to Ivangorod, a little more than 3 hours en route. The long-distance train Moscow-Saint Petersburg-Tallinn stops at the station.
1 Railway station. The station is actually located outside the city: you can get to it, passing from the central area in the direction of St. Petersburg to the Lukoil gas station, and then another kilometer as a straight arrow as the road to the south. Another way is to look for a path along the railway line from the crossing on Gagarin Street, but this option is less preferable, since the road goes through garages and is rather unpleasant. Buses to the station do not go, taxi drivers carry for 100 rubles (2017). You can call a taxi from the station to the city center by calling +7 (951) 679-33-90 and +7 (905) 281-78-44. The station is open around the clock. Inside there is a waiting room, a free toilet and a cash desk for night owls (18:00 – 5:30, break 1:00 – 2:00). The station is frontier, so the platform is released only when the train arrives, but there is no excessive zeal to check the documents of those traveling to Russia.
By bus
2 Bus station, Gospitalnaya street, 2. +7 (81375) 5-10-41. ticket office: 06:15 – 20:00 on workdays, 06:45 – 20:00 on weekends, lunch 12:45 – 14:15 daily. Located on the central square and is an old one-story building with a cashier, wooden benches and stale smell of mold. From the Petersburg bus station on Obvodny Canal there is a daily direct bus number 842 at 12:00 and 21:00 (from Ivangorod leaves at 07:00 and 16:00). On Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday there is another flight departing from the bus station on the Bypass channel at 17:30 (from Ivangorod departs on the same days at 10:00). Fare – 300. Local residents also drive on Tallinn and Riga international buses (Lux Express, Ecolines, Temptrans), which do not stop at the bus station, but simply slow down on the central square before going to the border. In the opposite direction, the algorithm is the same, but the exact time of passing of buses through Ivangorod is unpredictable. Suburban transportation – buses to Kingisepp, departing on average every hour. Also at the bus station taxi drivers are on duty, offering to get to Kingisepp at the price of a bus.
By car
The only road to Ivangorod is the M21 from St. Petersburg (150 km) through Kingisepp (25 km). Another option is to come to Estonian Narva and cross the border.
Transport
Ivangorod consists of three parts. The first microdistrict or Minutka (the so-called cafe located here in the 80s) is located north of the Kingisepp Highway. The central microdistrict is located south of the Kingisepp highway and stretches along Gagarin street to the railway crossing. The area at the intersection of Kingisepp Highway and Gagarin Street is called the local Gorka. In the south, Gagarin Street goes to the railway crossing and then goes through the Ivangorod industrial zone (the Yura Corporation Rus plant). Behind the bridge, the Parusinka microdistrict begins through the supply channel of the hydropower station. On foot from the center of Ivangorod to Parusinka 20-30 minutes. There are located the factory and the border pedestrian checkpoint Parusinka – Narva-2.
City buses (see also schedule):
# 7: Factory (Parusinka) – Gorka – Minutka (Kingiseppskoye Highway, 26) go from 7 to 21 with an interval of 20-30 minutes
No. 81: Factory (Pastorova str 1) – Gorka – bus station – Durakovo Polye gardens go 2-4 times a day
Attractions :
Ivangorod Fortress, a prominent fortification monument of the 15th and the 16th centuries.
Trinity Church : Kotovskogo St., Ivangorod, Russia
Ivangorod History, Architecture and Art Museum : Kingiseppskoe sh d. 6-1, Ivangorod 188490, Russia
Assumption Church
Church of St. Nicholas (in the fortress). One-domed church in the fortress.
Narva Falls, The Narva River forms a kind of gorge with two ledges. On one of them stands the Narva hydroelectric station
Activities :
1 Museum of military-defensive architecture of North-West Russia (Red House), Kingiseppskoye Highway, 1 (between the fortress and the Friendship Bridge
2 Art Museum (Panteleev’s mansion), Kingisepp highway, 6/1. +7 (81375) 5-17-92. Simple icon time.svg Wed – Sun 10:00 – 18:00. A boring provincial museum, which displays landscapes of the Leningrad Region, and works by Bilibin, an artist and illustrator of Russian fairy tales
Buy :
Eat : Drink : Accommodation :
Go next : Kingisepp / Narva / Ust-Luga , a village on the shores of the Gulf of Finland,
