Ivangorod

Ivangorod stands on the eastern bank of the Narva River, opposite the Livonian town of Narva. Its stone fortress was founded in 1492 by Ivan III of Moscow and took his name. Placed directly across the river from a rival stronghold, it was intended both to defend the Livonian frontier and to give the Russian state access to Baltic trade. A village on the Narva had already been mentioned in the chronicles before the fortress was built.

Swedish forces took and destroyed the original fortress in 1496, after which the Russians rebuilt and enlarged it. Sweden held Ivangorod from 1581 to 1590 and again from 1612; the Treaty of Stolbovo confirmed Swedish sovereignty in 1617. Its burghers were ordered to move to a suburb of Narva in 1649, and Ivangorod was administered as part of that town. Russia regained the area in 1704 during the Great Northern War, bringing the paired strongholds on the Narva under the same ruler.