Rzheva Pustaya

Rzheva Pustaya was a centre of the Rzheva district on the frontier between the Novgorod and Lithuanian lands. Its name, meaning Empty Rzheva, distinguished it from the town of Rzhev on the upper Volga. Ivan III's testament named it among the Novgorod possessions left to his son Vasily. In 1536 the government founded the fortress of Zavolochye on the Lithuanian frontier and ordered the people of Rzheva moved there. Much later, in 1777, a new district town called Novorzhev was established on the Sorot road.