In the May days, as soon as the heat became warm and the snow melted completely, I went on a trip to the western borders of Russia.
The end point of my route was the city of Pskov. When I arrived in this most interesting city, I found out that there is still a small old town, located 20 kilometers to the west.
It is the city of Izborsk. There I went.

Izborsk. Old city keeps memory of the beginning and heros.

Izborsk is one of the oldest Russian settlements. Now it is a small rural settlement of the Pechora region of the Pskov region - Old Izborsk. It is located 35 km south-west of Pskov, near the Gorodischensky Lake and the Slovenian keys.

The ancient city of Izborsk is older than Pskov. It was first mentioned in chronicles in 862, Pskov in 903. According to legend Varangian Rurik, Sineus and Truvor settled for living in Ladoga, Beloozero and Izborsk, but Izborsk was already founded by the Slavs by that time. On behalf of Truvor is known since ancient times Truvorovo hillfort. There was built a military fortification - a wooden fortress.

Izborsk fortress is a unique monument of Russian military architecture. The walls of it survived dozens of seizures, long years of oblivion, Estonian and German occupation ... Many amazing monuments of defense architecture were wiped from the face of the earth by wars, reconstructions and socialist construction projects. Izborsk, despite all the cataclysms, political upheavals, ignorance and naplevatelstvo, was preserved in a breathtakingly beautiful form. Unfortunately, this is a great rarity for our country.

The complex of Izborskaya stone fortress dates back to the 14th-17th centuries. It is located in the Izborsk-Malsky Valley and is a unique natural-historical complex with it.

To somehow preserve the collapsing fortress, in the 1960s the museum of the Izborsk fortress was organized. In the Izborsk fortress there are six towers: five round and one cheryrehugolnaya. The four towers are concentrated on the west side, one is in the northeast corner, inside the walls, the sixth tower stands roughly in the middle of the south wall. The tower of the western wall, standing in front of the entrance to the fortress, is called Darkness, behind it on the same wall are Ryabinovka and Vyshka. The quadrilateral Tala Tower was placed in the north-western corner of the fortress. The tower in the northeast corner, inside the city walls, is called Lukovka. On the south wall is the Bell Tower.
All the towers have several floors. The modern height of the towers is 13-19 m.
The walls of the fortress are 7.5-8.5 m high, reaching from the west side even more than 10 m. The walls are about 5 m thick, in the eastern part - about 4 m.
The fortress has two entrances, which were fortified with special defensive devices: crooked. These are two parallel walls, forming a long narrow passage in the form of a corridor, barred from both sides by gates. The first dull gates were located near the Temnushka tower, and zahab connected them to the main Nikolsky gates. Now zahaba are significantly destroyed. One can only guess about the terrible adaptation, which was once called the "corridor of death." If the enemy managed to break into the narrow and closed space of the two sides of the crook, the defenders shot him at point-blank range while being completely protected themselves. As a result, the gate of the fortress from the most vulnerable place turned into the most impregnable.

Next to the Izborsk archaeologists another settlement was discovered. This is an earlier settlement, which dates from the century AD.

Truvorovo hillfort.

Truvorovo fortified settlement - ancient settlement of VII-XVIII centuries near Izborsk. It occupies the triangular cape of a high plateau - the Giravia mountain above the Gorodischensky lake. The settlement was founded by Krivichi at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries, the area of ​​the settlement is 7000 m². The tenth part of the Izber ceramics was a Baltic-Finnish ryuges type.

On the territory - the Church of St. Nicholas on the site of ancient settlement. Next to the settlement is an ancient cemetery with preserved stone crosses of the 15th century. One of the crosses, taller than human height, is known as Truvorov cross, Truvorova grave. Folk tradition connects him with the legendary Varangian Truvor.

Catherine II, who believed in this legend, ordered to make a medal in honor of Truvor, on the front side of which there was a fictitious portrait of Rurik, and on the reverse side - a burial mound Truvorov and the inscription: "Till the day is remembered," and below: "Truvor died in Izborsk in 864 year ".

In 1972, during the excavation of Izborskiy (Truvorov) ancient settlement, a 14th century land stone was found with a Cyrillic inscription measuring about 30 × 22 cm and 15 cm thick. The inscription consists of two parts: "mez" ("mezh") and " "(" Our part of Vorotkov "). On the Izborsk (Truvorovo) site of ancient settlement, as well as in other places in the northwest of Russia (Pskov, Kamno, Ryug, Ladoga) in the 8th-9th centuries foundries from limestone became widespread, as a result, the revival of the fashion for such decorations, developed in Prague culture early Slavs at the turn of the 6th - 7th centuries.

Sources http://secrethistory.su; http://www.countrysite.spb.ru; http://www.vesti.ru; http://culture.pskov.ru; http://izborsk-info.ru; http://www.continent.kz; https://ru.wikipedia.org.

The hillfort occupies the top of a hill, the foot of which goes to the bottom of the valley. With a steep over the valley opens wide open space, then the valley goes to the left, to the north and there in the distance lightens Malskoe Lake. From the side of the valley, the ancient city was completely impregnable. To feel its inaccessibility, you need to look from below, from the place where once rooks came from the side of Lake Peipsi. The cape is then clearly seen, and the lone church on the top of the hill is very picturesque.

In the cemetery, ancient stone slabs-thrusts of crosses with the "Babylons" carved on them-symbolic signs-have been preserved. Trubov cross One of the crosses of the XV century was preserved and was named "Truvorova" by the name of the legendary founder of the city. "Truvorov cross" is remarkable for its size - it is taller than human growth, has a proud posture and wide expanding wings. Local residents consider this place the grave of Trouvor. According to the legend, Truvor came along with Rurik in 862 and reigned 3 years until his death in Izborsk. This legend was believed by Catherine II, dealing with Russian history, she in the 1780s conceived to make a series of historical medals in chronological order reflecting the history of Russia. One of them is a medal in honor of Truvor, on the obverse side of which is a fictitious portrait of Rurik, and on the reverse - an embanked "Truvorov" burial mound and the inscription: "Done is remembered," and below: "Truvor died in Izborsk in 864".

The legendary Truvor separates from the time of the installation of the cross six centuries. But the cross, like the huge slabs resting at the foot, retains the memory of the legendary prince.

The plates differ from other cemetery gravestones not only in large sizes, but also in the character of the old time-worn stone. Perhaps, here are the graves of the soldiers who died for Izborsk. Plates and crosses are covered with geometric figures. These pictures were called "Babylons".