Ivangorod Fortress

Ivangorod Fortress (Estonian: Jaanilinn, Votic: Jaanilidna) is a Russian medieval castle established by Ivan III in 1492 and since then grown into the town of Ivangorod. The fortress overlooks the Narva River opposite the Narva Hermann Castle and the Estonian city of Narva.

The fortress was intended to reaffirm Russia's right to access the sea and at the same time form a bulwark against the Teutonic Order, which dominated the Baltics. On the left bank stands since the 13th Century the powerful Hermann Castle, a castle of the Teutonic Order. In the following decades, the structures of the fort have been expanded and strengthened. After the collapse of the German order of Estonia came under Swedish rule, and since the end of the Livonian War in 1583 the Ivangorod fortress also belonged to Sweden.

The original castle was constructed in one summer, in the year 1492. It was named after Moscovian Grand Prince Ivan III. Its purpose was to fend off the Livonian Knights. The castle is strictly quadrilateral, measuring 1,600 sq ft (150 m²), with walls 14 meters tall.

Ivangorod was won back later in the year by Muscovite forces from the Livonians, under the command of Prince Ivan Gundar and Mikhail Klyapin. Three thousand troops arrived to retake the castle, rebuild it, and construct a new barracks and stronger bastions. For almost 10 years, the land around the castle was in constant warfare. The fortress and the land around changed hands repeatedly. The castle was reconstructed and fortified many times, becoming one of the strongest defensive structures in the 16th century. The castle was in development until the 17th century, becoming a large, sprawling fortress with several lines of defense.

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