Narva

Narva (Нарва in Russian, Narwa in German) is a 55,249 inhabitants city by river Narva, in the easternmost part of Estonia, by the border with Russia. It's the 3rd largest in Estonia and the largest city in Ida-Viru County. Narva is one of the cities with largest Russian-speaking and Russian ethnic communities in the country. It used to be a single city together with Ivangorod (Иванго́род in Russian, Jaanilinn in Estonian) in Russia till January 1945.

How do I arrive to Narva?

  Narva is quite communicated and connected with the rest of Estonia as well as with Russia.

• Train: there are two daily trains to Tallinn (aprox. 2 hours 45 minutes) via Rakvere (aprox 1.5 hours). The trains that go from Tallinn to Moscow and Saint Petersburg stop in Narva too.
• Bus: Narva is connected from Narva Bus Station with Sillamäe (aprox. 45 minutes) every hour, 9 times per day with Tartu (aprox. 3 hours), once every hour with Tallinn (aprox. 3 hours 15 minutes) or with Pärnu (aprox. 4 hours 45 minutes). There are also buses to international destinations like St. Petersburg and Moscow (Russia). Narva-Jõesuu is connected by bus every hour with Narva (aprox. 30 minutes) and the following destionations 2-3 times per day: Sillamäe (aprox. 1 hour), Rakvere (aprox. 3 hours) and Tallinn (aprox. 4 hours 15 minutes). To reach Kuremäe there are two weekly buses from Rakvene (aprox. 2 hours) and Tallinn (aprox. 3.5 hours).
• Car: if you rented a car, it's a 40 minutes journey from Narva-Jõesuu, 50 minutes from Sillamäe, 1 hour 10 minutes from Rakvere, 2 hours from Lahemaa National Park, 2 hours 15 minutes from Tartu or 2 hours 30 minutes from Tallinn. The city is in the border with Russia so Narva can be reached from Russian cities like Kingisepp (aprox. 40 minutes), Saint Petersburg (aprox. 2 hours 50 minutes), Pskov (aprox. 3 hours 15 minutes) or Veliky Novgorod (aprox 3 hours 45 minutes).

History

People settled in the area of Narva around 5,000 BC developing the so called Narva culture. Current city was first mentioned in the First Novgorod Chronicle and Narva castle was founded during the Danish rule of northern Estonia during the second half of the 13th century, being sold to the Livonian Order afterwards.  During the Livonian War it was captured by the Russians, being afterwards conquered by Pontus De la Gardie for Sweden. Narva was conquered again by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War. Narva started to develop as a major industrial town with the establishment of Krenholm Manufacturing Company. In 1917 there was a referendum in the district of Narva (by them equally divided between ethnic Russians and Estonians) which ended in the city being part of Estonia, being capturedd by the Red Army till 1919. In WW2, during the battle of Narva, the city was destroyed by Soviet bombardments and fires and explosions set by retreating German troops (ending up in a 98% of Narva destroyed). In 1945 Ivangorod was separated from Narva and made part of Leningrad Oblast. After the Estonian independence (1991) the local leaders wanted autonomy and proposed the creation of  a breakaway republic (Transnarovan SSR) that was quite unpopular between the population (despite being mainly Russian-speaking). In 1993 there was a referendum for autonomy for Narva and Sillamäe which got a low turnout (55%) and charges of vote rigging so it wasn't taken into account. Since the independence there have been many treaties between Estonia and Russia to solve border disputes around Narva but they haven't been fully implemented.

 

What can I visit in Narva?

Narva was hardly destroyed during WW2 (but the castle and the town hall) and the currently image of the city is a bit sorrowful because of loosing importance. Despite that it's worth a visit and the city has a nice river promenade where having a relaxing walk.

These are Narva's main attractions:

• Hermann's Castle (10-18 Mon-Fri): 13th century castle built, together with Ivangorod one, by the Danes, forming an unique complex in Europe. It was restored after WW2 and has one of the only remaining squares in Estonia with an statue of Lenin. Within the castle it's placed Narva Museum (10-18; 8€/ 4€  adults/ retiree, students and kids), museum with several expositions about the history of the city since Stone Age to the 20th century. It's placed in Hermann's Tower and in the upper part there are nice views of Narva.
• Narva Town Hall: Baroque style building with German, Swedish and Italian architectural influences built around 1670. It's one of the only surviving constructions to WW2 bombs.
• Narva College of the University of Tartu: reproduction of a former Baroque stock market building which was located here with modern added parts. It's a college of the University of Tartu.
• Narva Art Gallery (10-18; 8€/ 4€  adults/ retiree, students and kids from Jun to Aug, 3€ /1.50€  adults/ retiree, students and kids from Sep to May): art gallery located in a former ammunition warestore with a cool art collection, particulary the one of art before WW2.
• Casemates of the Bastion Victoria (11-18 Wed-Thu, 10-19 Fri-Sat, 10-16 Sun; 5€/ 3€  adults/ retiree, students and kids): restored casemates with exhibitions about it and the gunpowder cellar of the bastion, introducing the history of the bastions defence system.
• Pimeaed: 19th century park located in the former Swedish star-shape bastion Victoria with views to the river Narva.
• Narva Lutheran Cathedral (10-18 Wed-Sat, 9-17 Sun; 5€ /3€  adults/ retiree, students and kids): cathedral named in tsar Alexander II of Russia's honour and built for the Lutheran workers of Krenholm Manufacturing Company. It's considered the largest religious building in Estonia and it was hardly damaged during WW1 and WW2.
• Narva Russian Orthodox Cathedral (8-20; free): 1896 red-bricked cathedral with an outstanding inside with amazing frescoes in the cupola and carved iconostasis.    It was built in 1890-1896 for the Orthodox Christian workers of Kreenholm Manufactory. The architectural style comes from Byzantine tradition. You can see three part iconostasis and 17th century’s crucifix of Christ. The bombing of the city in 1944 during the Second World War left only the church untouched
  
• In the south of the city there's the island of Kreenholm. Here it was located Kreenholm Textile Factory, built in the 19th century and the largest factory in the Russian Empire at that time (in 1913 over 10,000 people worked her).
  
• Just going 13 km north it can be found the seaside resort Narva-Jõesuu (На́рва-Йы́эсуу in Russian), with 2,870 inhabitants. It's a cute but rundown town that was quite popular in the 19th century because of its long beach (Narva-Jõesuu Beach) and has an important offer of hotels and spas (mainly targeting Russian tourists). To know more about it a good idea is visiting Narva-Jõesuu Ethnographic Museum (10-18).
  

Narva Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Narva Town Hall

View of Sillamäe's architecture

Getting 27 km by the coast of the Baltic Sea from Narva you can find Sillamäe (Си́лламяэ in Russian, Sillamäggi in German), 13,666 inhabitants town near the Gulf of Finland, on the estuary of Sõtke river. The town drastically changed when in 1946 a metallurgy plant to get uranium oxides was established here, closing Sillamäe for any kind of visitors. The architecture of Sillamäe was designed by Leningrad's architects, being an interesting stop for Stalinist architecture with some examples like Sillamäe Town Hall (inspired Lutheran churches) or its sculptures. To know more about the town's history it can be visited Sillamäe Museum (10-18 Tue-Fri, 10-16 Sat; 3€/ 2€/ free  adults/ retiree and students/ kids), museum that shows the history of the town with an excellent minerals collection and information about its extraction industry too, completed with a reproduction of a 1950s Soviet apartment. Soviet-Era Sillamäe (10-16 Mon-Fri) is a branch of Sillamäe Museum that displays Soviet times relics like uniforms, flags, Stalin and Lenin portraits and busts. It's possible to visit Sillamäe Cultural Center (8-17 Mon-Fri; 1€) to discover a Stalinist Neoclassic building.

Pühtitsa Convent

Narva is also an interesting point to visit the northern part of the Estonian side of Lake Peipus. But before reaching it a good idea is stopping at Kuremäe, a 290 inhabitants parish popular among Orthodox Christians because it's said to have occured an apparition in the 16th century. Therefore it was built Pühtitsa Convent (7-19; free), 1895 complex formed with an impressing green onion domes and murals about Virgin Mary. It's the only functioning Russian Orthodox nunnery in Estonia. Continuing the way Lake Peipus is reached, 5th largest lake in Europe with almost empty nice beaches and abandoned Soviet seaside resorts.

Kauksi Beach

In the birthplace of river Narva, in the Estonian side of the border with Russia, there's Vasknarva (Сыренец in Russian, Neuschloss in German), 40 inhabitants village (most of them Old Believers) which has the ruins of Vasknarva Castle, remains of a castle built by the Teutonic Order in 1349, and an Orthodox monastery (it's believed that it used to be a spying center of KGB). Continuing by the lake there's Alajõe (Олешница in Russian), a 151 people village with the most important Orthodox church in the area, Jumalaema Sündimise Russian Orthodox Church, a red-brick church from 1889. In the end of Ida-Viru County by the side of the lake it's located the 53 inhabitants community of Kauksi (Каукси in Russian, Kauks in German) that has one of the best beaches by Lake Peipus, Kauksi Beach.

Where can I eat in Narva?

Narva isn't a quite good culinary destinations but you can eat in cheap international restaurants like the Chinese Chinahouse (Tallinna maantee 6b) or the Turkish Anatalya Cafe (Aleksander Puškini 15).

Posted in: Estonia,Europe