Pskov

Pskov - Псков

Pskov is a pretty city with a long history. Russian chronicles say that Prince Igor of Kyiv married local Princess Olga here in 903. The heart of the city is a riverside kremlin. The stone walls date from the 13th century. The Trinity Cathedral inside the kremlin was built in 1699.

RUSSIA BEGINS HERE.

Inside the kremlin.

In the Trinity Cathedral.

Views from the opposite side of the Velikaya River.

The Rizhskaya Hotel and the monument to Princess Olga who was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Lenin Square and Pskov University.

Pskov OBLAST - ПсковСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ

izborsk - изборск

Located 30 km west of Pskov, Izborsk was already a town back in 862. Now it is a village around the oldest stone fortress in Russia. Before 2010 the Izborsk fortress was unrestored. Access was free and grass-grown walls and towers were open for exploration. Since 2010 the fortress has been under restoration. Now it looks cleaner and brighter.

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The 14th century Saint Nicholas Church inside the fortress.

The old brickwork.

One tower has a viewing platform.

Streetscapes of Izborsk.

Behind the fortress there are twelve springs flowing clean portable water from underground. Each spring is named after a name of a virtue, that is Happiness, Love, etc.

PEchory - ПЕчоры

Pechory is a small town close to the Estonian border. In spite of the closeness to the border travelers enjoy free access to the village. No special permit is required.

The Church of 40 Martyrs (white) and Saint Barbara Church (red).

Pechory is famous for its monastery founded in 1473 by hermits living here in caves. Before the WWII this territory belonged to Estonia. This fact saved the monastery from closure after the 1917 Russian revolution. Today visitors can listen to chimes of original 16th century bells and enjoy an elaborate landscape design. The monastery is very colorful and photogenic.

Kissing a cross.

Blessing a child.

Some types of Russian Orthodox crosses.

The entrance door to the cave part of the monastery.

The monastery walls.

sites linked with alexander pushkin

mikhailovskoe - михайловское

The village of Mikhailovskoe was the family estate of Russian poet #1 Alexander Pushkin. He was born in Moscow in 1799. His black great grandfather named Hannibal was brought to Russia from Ethiopia as a gift to tsar Peter I. Despite all odds the Ethiopian boy made a brilliant career and finished as a Russian Army general. His great grandson Alexander wrote everything: odes, sonnets, poems, short and long stories, fairy tales, etc. Alexander's political views were not completely in line with the then tsarist regime. As a result, he was exiled from Saint Petersburg three times. Once to his family estate Mikhailovskoe, where he spent two productive years.

Pushkin's house and park around the house.

pushkinskie gory - пушкинские горы

Pushkin was killed at a duel in February 1837 being 37 years old. He was buried at the monastery near his family estate. Now the town is named Pushkinskie Gory, literally Pushkin Hills.

Pushkin’s grave.

gdov - гдов

The town of Gdov is located 125 km north of Pskov on the shore of Lake Tchudskoe or Peipsi Jarv in Estonian. It was founded in 1431. Gdov was a frontier town and as a result suffered many attacks, occupations and sieges laid by Germans, Lithuanians, Poles and Swedes. Currently Gdov is a small sleepy town. The walls of the original fortress stand unrestored.

The original church inside the fortress didn't survive but was rebuilt in 1993.

krasukha - красуха

During the WWII the entire Pskov Oblast was occupied by Hitler troops for nearly three years. When applying the scorched land policy, the occupants completely burnt down 2,500 villages in most cases together with their residents. 1,120 villages were never restored as there were no survivers. The Soviet Socialist Republic of Belorussia aka Belarus was most affected. 5,295 villages were totally burnt and 628,000 people populating those villages were killed. When in Belarus, visit the Khatyn (Хатынь) Memorial. (Not to be confused with the Katyn (Катынь) Memorial in Smolensk Oblast). The village of Krasukha was one of the villages in Pskov Oblast that met its fate 27 November 1943.