Narva

Narva (Rugodi?l of Russian annals, also Ivangorod), a seaport and fortress of Russia, in the government of St Petersburg, loo m. by rail W.S.W. of the city of St Petersburg. Pop. (1897) 16,577. It stands on the Narova river, which flows from Lake Peipus or Chudskoye, and enters the Gulf of Finland in Narva Bay, 8 m. below this town. The town was founded in 1223 by Danes, and changed hands between the Teutonic knights, Danes, Swedes and Russians until it was taken by Peter the Great in 1704, after the Russians had suffered here a terrible defeat at the hands of Charles XII. of Sweden four years before. Its fortress, built on the right bank of the river, and known as Ivangorod, has lost its importance, and was abandoned in 1864. The cathedral and the town hall (1683) contain interesting antiquities. There are here an arsenal, a small museum and a school of navigation. Several manufactories utilize the waterfalls of the Narova, e.g. cotton-mills, woollen cloth mills, flax and jute mills, saw-mills and steam flour mills. The total trade falls short of half a million sterling annually. A watering-place has grown up at Ust-Narova, or Hungerburg, at the mouth of the Narova.