Vasknarva

Vasknarva stands where the Narva River leaves Lake Peipus, a position that made its castle a sentinel on Livonia's eastern frontier. The Livonian Order built a stronghold here in 1349; after troops from Pskov destroyed it, a new castle rose between 1427 and 1442 and became the seat of a vogt. The castle suffered again during the Livonian War in 1558. Swedish commander Pontus De la Gardie took it in 1581, after which it was rebuilt to guard the river and the Russian border. Fighting in the Ingrian War of 1610–17 destroyed the fortress, and it was abandoned. Its stones later served the fishing village that grew beside the ruined walls.