Narva

est. Narva

Russian: Нарва (Narva), Old Russian: Ругодив (Rugodiv)

59° 22’ north, 28° 11’ east

The town is situated in eastern Estonia on the border with the Russian Federation, 14 km from the Baltic Sea on the western bank of the Narva River (Estonian: Narva jõgi). It is situated on a limestone plateau, typical of the land bridge between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus. Since 1955, the Narva Reservoir (Estonian: Narva veehoidla) has bordered the urban area to the south. The surrounding area is characterised by marshland, open-cast mining and spoil heaps. Narva is 195 km from Reval/Tallinn and 135 km from Saint Petersburg/Sankt-Peterburg.

The earliest traces of settlement on the Narva Joaroru hillfort date from around 10,000 BC. Finds from the Kunda culture, which show similarities with the Maglemose culture, provide evidence of settlement on the Narva between 7,400 and 6,000 BC. In the 5th and 4th centuries BC, the semi-Neolithic Narva culture developed here; named after the site where it was discovered, it was characterised by hunting and gathering.

Following the destruction of the earlier wooden structure of Hermannsfeste (Estonian: Hermanni linnus) at the beginning of the 13th century, work began in 1256 on the construction of a massive fortification. The new castle was first mentioned in a document in 1277; at the same time, the settlement within the fortress was expanded. The castle served as a base for the Danes’ planned conquest of the Watland and was referred to as a ‘civitas’ from 1329 and as a ‘castrum et civitas’ from 1333. In 1342, the town was ravaged by Russian troops. King Waldemar IV of Denmark (1321–1375) confirmed the Lübeck town charter in 1345, but sold his Estonian territories, including Narva, to the German Order in 1346. In 1367, the town suffered destruction at the hands of Russian troops and a fire. In the years that followed, a new town was established in the outer bailey.

In 1492, Ivan III (1440–1505), Grand Prince of Moscow, had the fortress of Ivangorod built on the eastern bank of the Narva. During the Livonian War (1558–1583), the town and Hermann’s Fortress were captured in 1558 by the troops of Tsar Ivan IV (1530–1584). This was followed by a brief period of economic prosperity, during which Narva, as Russia’s only port city in the Baltic region, dominated Russian transit trade. Russian rule ended in 1581 with the Swedish conquest under Pontus de la Gardie (1520–1585). During Swedish rule (1581–1704), the town and its fortress were systematically expanded. Several town fires (1610, 1649, 1659) and the union with Ivangorod in 1645 altered the town’s layout. From 1680 onwards, the town was transformed into a fortified town according to the fortification plans of Erik Dahlberg (1625–1703). At the Battle of Narva in 1700, Charles XII of Sweden (1682–1718) defeated the Russian army of Tsar Peter I (1682–1725) despite being outnumbered. In 1704, Russian troops returned and captured the town. The town’s inhabitants were deported to the Tsarist Empire in 1707–08 and were not permitted to return until 1715. Under the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Narva officially became part of the Tsarist Empire and belonged to the Saint Petersburg Governorate until 1917.

From 1917, Narva became part of the new district of Verland. On 28 November 1918, Soviet troops attacked Narva. Under the Treaty of Tartu on 2 February 1920, territories east of the Narva River, including Ivangorod, were ceded to the now independent Estonia.

In accordance with the German–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Narva was occupied by the Soviet Army in 1940. Mass deportations of sections of the Estonian population to Siberia began. Following Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, Estonia came under German occupation in August 1941. In the first half of 1944, the Battle of the Narva Bridgehead raged. The five-month battle between parts of Army Group North and the Soviet Leningrad Front ended with the German retreat to the Tannenberg positions and the widespread destruction of the city, the Hermann Fortress and the Ivangorod Fortress.

The site of the Krähnholm Manufakturen (Estonian: Kreenholmi Manufaktuur) was home to Soviet Prisoner-of-War Camp 206, which was merged with Camp 393 in Narva in 1945. With the re-establishment of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Narva was separated from Ivangorod, which became an independent town. All former residents of Narva were denied the right to return, and new settlers of Russian origin, primarily from the Leningrad Oblast, were resettled there. Narva remained part of the Soviet Union until the Republic of Estonia declared its independence on 20 August 1991.

Before the Livonian War (1530), Narva’s population of approximately 500–800 people consisted of around 30 German families and 120 other families. By the mid-17th century, the German community numbered 115 tax-paying citizens. As the town expanded towards the end of the 17th century, the population rose to around 4,000 inhabitants, plus a garrison of 1,000 men. At that time, the citizenry comprised Germans, Swedes, Russians, Estonians and Finns. For a time, a number of English and Dutch merchants also settled in the town. In 1934, of Narva’s 23,512 inhabitants, 65 per cent were of Estonian nationality and 30 per cent of Russian nationality. The Germans, numbering 499, accounted for two per cent. In addition, there were 188 Jews, 162 Poles and 145 Finns.

After the resettlements of 1939–1941, there was no longer any German population in Narva; however, following 1991, a small German association called ‘Harmonie’ was formed, consisting primarily of Russian Germans who had moved there whilst Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. Although it is Estonia’s third-largest city, Narva has experienced a continuous decline in population since the establishment of the Estonian state in 1991. In 2017, the city had 57,130 inhabitants, of whom 83 per cent identified as Russian, whilst only four per cent identified as Estonian, two per cent as Ukrainian and two per cent as Belarusian. Only 48 per cent held Estonian citizenship, 36 per cent held Russian citizenship and 14 per cent were stateless. In particular, some members of the large Russian majority still do not hold an Estonian passport. Since 1992, all newborns in Estonia have been granted Estonian citizenship.

Following the Christianisation of the Estonians by North German missionaries, which had already begun around the turn of the millennium, and the further spread of the Christian faith following the Danish conquest of Estonia in the 13th century, it also reached Narva after the German Order acquired Estonia in 1346. Thanks to close ties amongst the German upper classes within the Hanseatic League, the Reformation had taken hold in the Baltic city by 1526. At the same time, theRussian Orthodox faith also spread as far as Narva, owing to the proximity to Russian territories and the local population in Ivangorod. Swedish rule (1581–1704) then focused on consolidating Lutheran doctrine.

Following Narva’s transfer to the Russian Tsardom by treaty in 1710, the Lutheran Church retained its autonomy. German remained not only the language of administration but also the language of the church. The attempt made by Tsar Alexander III (1845–1894) in the late 19th century to strengthen the Russian Orthodox faith in Estonia was unsuccessful.

Religious freedom prevailed in independent Estonia during the interwar period. Due to the Russian majority of the population, theRussian Orthodox faith is dominant today. Alongside a small Lutheran congregation, there are also Jewish and Islamic communities with a small number of members, whilst more than a fifth of Narva’s population do not identify with any religion.

In 1695, the first printing press was established in Narva, although it operated for only a decade. It was here that the *Narvaische Post-Zeitung* ( 1701/02) and *Narva literata* (1703) were published, two important German-language publications of the early modern period. It was not until 1862 that a newspaper was published in Narva again. Today, the Estonian-language weekly *Narva Postiljon* is published in Narva, as is its Russian-language counterpart, *Narvskaja Gazeta*, which appears twice a week.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the question ‘Is Narva next?’ has been the subject of repeated and heated debate. On 24 February 2015, Estonia’s national holiday, the NATO military parade in Narva city centre – and thus in the immediate vicinity of the EU’s external border – highlighted the city’s strategic importance. As early as 1993, a referendum in Narva and the Ida-Viru region – which had resulted in a majority in favour of the area’s independence – had been declared invalid by the Supreme Court of Estonia.

• Karsten Brüggemann (ed.): Narva and the Baltic Sea Region. Papers from the 2nd International Conference on Political and Cultural Relations between Russia and the Baltic Sea Region (Narva, 1–3 May 2003) – Narva and the Baltic Sea Region. Papers Presented at the Second International Conference on Political and Cultural Relations between Russia and the Baltic Sea Region (Narva, 1–3 May 2003). Narva 2004.
• Heinrich Johann Hansen: History of the City of Narva. Dorpat 1858.
• Sten Karling: Narva: An Architectural Study. Stockholm 1936.
• Arnold Süvalep [Schulbach]: Narva Ajalugu [The History of Narva], Vol. I: Taani- ja orduaeg [The Swedish and Teutonic Order Periods]. Tartu 1936.
• Weiss-Wendt, Anton (ed.): On the Margins. Essays on the History of Jews in Estonia. Budapest, New York 2017.

• Narva Muuseum Toimetised ( a periodical published annually by the Narva City Museum on topics relating to the history of the city of Narva).

• www.narva.ee (Narva City Council website)
• narvamuuseum.ee (Homepage of the Narva City Historical Museum)
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/wikidata/Q102158 (Images relating to Narwa/Narva in the image archive of the Herder Institute, Marburg)

[1] See, amongst others, Raimo Pullat: ‘On the historical demography of towns in the Estonian SSR’. In: Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, 12, II, Berlin 1971, pp. 255–266; Narva City Development and Economy Agency: Narva in Figures 2010, p. 7, web.narva.ee/files/2010_Narva%20arvudes_et_en.pdf (accessed 22 December 2017).