Fights at the nightingale crossing. The southeastern wall of the Izborsk fortress and panoramas of the surrounding area

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Initially, the Izborsk fortress stood in the place that is now called. However, in the 14th century it was moved to Zheravya Mountain, where powerful walls and towers were soon erected.

When you arrive in Izborsk, a strange feeling comes over you. It seems that since ancient times this has been Russian land. But at the same time, the Baltic influence is strongly felt. It turns out to be a very interesting mixture of different cultures.

Like any fortress in the north-west of Russia, the history of Izborsk is connected with wars, sieges, and repelling enemy attacks.

Founded by the Krivichi, Izborsk is the same age as Smolensk and Polotsk. According to legend, it was founded by Sloven Gostomyslovich. The city was named Sloven. And his son, Izbor, renamed it in his honor. Under Princess Olga, Izborsk became a suburb of Pskov and paid tribute to Kyiv. Under the walls of Izborsk, through Gorodishchenskoye and Malskoye lakes, there was a water trade route to Lake Peipus. Izborians took part in many campaigns - against Byzantium, Bulgaria, and the Pechenegs.

At the beginning of the 13th century, after the collapse of Kievan Rus, Izborsk became a fortress on the northwestern borders of the Novgorod land. His main enemy were the knights of the Livonian Order. The construction of the fortress that now exists on Zheravya Mountain began in 1303-1330. Initially it was wooden, only the Lukovka (Kukovka) tower was stone. In the middle of the 14th century, the Pskov mayor Sheloga built stone walls and then towers. The fortress turned into an impregnable stronghold.

In 1510, Izborsk, together with Pskov, went to Moscow. In 1581, it was taken by the troops of Stefan Batory, but after the signing of the peace treaty, Izborsk again became Russian. In 1920-1940, Izborsk, as part of the Pechora region, belonged to Estonia.

At the Izborsk fortress

We arrived in Izborsk on a rainy day. However, despite this, there were many tourists. Our minibus stopped at Pechorskaya street, where ancient buildings and cobblestone streets have been preserved. In front of the houses there is an ancient burial ground. In the Novgorod land, ancient pagan kurgan-type burial grounds were called zhalniki. Common graves were called skudelnya.

Houses on Pechorskaya Street: Izborsk Museum, Anisimov Estate and Izborsk Park; crosses in front of houses - Skudelnya burial ground

On the corner of the streets, in the shadow of the trees, a modest monument to Izboryan soldiers who fell during the Great Patriotic War.

We pass by stone houses with wooden tops in the traditional Pskov style.

Manor 1900 - residential building with a stone barn

And ahead you can see the Izborsk Fortress. The street ends in a fortress Temnushka tower. In former times there was a dungeon here. Hence the name.

Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Nikander of Pskov

On the square in front of the fortress, behind the church fence, a small Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Nikander of Pskov. Initially, the temple, built around 1510, stood on the territory of the fortress itself. However, after a fire that destroyed it, it was decided to move the church outside the fortress walls. It is unknown when the current building was built. The official date is 1611. However, many researchers believe that no earlier than the middle of the 18th century. Now there is a museum of petroglyphs here.

Walk through the Izborsk Fortress

Nikolsky Zahab and towers of the fortress

Let's approach Nikolsky Zahab- a long and narrow passage along the southern wall of the fortress. The enemy who broke through here found himself trapped, under fire from all sides.

But I can’t take my eyes off the fortress. Behind the walls of the St. Nicholas Zahab one can see the domes of the St. Nicholas Cathedral (let me remind you that St. Nicholas the Wonderworker became the heavenly patron of Izborsk after the Baptism of Rus'). In front of the walls are fragments of the seventh, Flat tower.

Finally, we enter Nikolsky Zahab. People walk here in a dense crowd.

Walls of the Izborsk Fortress (Nikolsky Zahab)

The domes of the St. Nicholas Cathedral visible behind the walls look like the helmets of ancient Russian warriors. It cannot be otherwise.

Pavement and secret passage to the water

And now we are on the territory of the fortress. There is cobblestone pavement underfoot.

Steps go down to a secret passage to the water.

Let's approach St. Nicholas Cathedral. A true temple warrior who has survived many attacks. As befits a warrior, he is very laconic. A sign on the wall of the temple reads:

St. Nicholas Cathedral is an architectural monument of the first half of the 14th century. In the 17th century, a chapel was built to replace the wooden church built in 1349. In 1849, a bell tower was added.

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside. The temple is operational, many believers come here from all over the Pskov land.

After visiting the temple we go to Bell Tower. Until the end of the 19th century, it was crowned with a belfry, the bell of which announced danger. They say it could be heard even in Pskov.

The southeastern wall of the Izborsk fortress and panoramas of the surrounding area

Then we climb southeast wall Izborsk fortress. Of course, it has been reconstructed. However, the restorers approached their task very carefully.

The wall approaches the corner Lukovka tower, the oldest in the fortress. The walls built later went around the outside of the tower, and thus it ended up inside. Previously, there was an arsenal and a powder magazine here. Nowadays there is an observation deck at the top of the tower, from which majestic panoramas of the surrounding area open up.

The ancient houses of Izborsk are visible from the wall. How different they are from the ones we are used to!

On the eastern side of St. Nicholas Cathedral there is a memorial cross, the inscription on which reads:

To all the leaders and warriors who were killed on the battlefield and laid down their lives for our faith and our fatherland, to all the Orthodox Christians who have died since centuries, buried in this fortress and the city of Izborsk.

St. Nicholas Cathedral and the memorial cross in front of it

Perhaps the most beautiful panoramas of the surrounding area open from the eastern part of the fortress, where the Lukovka tower is located. To the north of the fortress lies Gorodishchenskoye Lake, the hills rise behind it. On this rainy day, everything is drowned in haze, and therefore the landscape seems more severe.

Talavskaya Tower- the only square tower of the Izborsk fortress. Initially, because of its shape, it was called Ploskusha. It was built later than the others - at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. Its current name is associated with the Talavsky springs, and those with the tribe tolova who once lived in these places. Next to the Talav Tower is the Talav Zahab.

A little away from the Talavskaya Tower is Chapel of the Korsun Icon of the Mother of God. It was built in 1929, during the “Estonian” period, in honor of the appearance of the miraculous Korsun Icon of the Mother of God. The chapel stands on the site of the burial ground where Izborians who died defending the fortress in 1657 were buried.

Tower Tower- the highest in the Izborsk fortress. Its height is 19 meters. It was used for early detection of the enemy.

Observation deck and basements of the Lukovka tower

I can’t get past the observation deck in the Lukovka Tower.

Inside the Lukovka tower

The views from the observation deck are truly fantastic.

Below, near the Lukovka tower, there are stones with the history of the Izborsk fortress and the Pskov land.

Having descended from the observation deck, I go down to the basements of Lukovka.

Steps to the basement

Mossy stones in the basement

The basement is cold and damp. However, what would a basement be without this? I go outside where my fellow travelers are waiting for me. And through the opening in the wall we go outside the Izborsk fortress.

At the foot of the Izborsk fortress

We descend from Zheravya Mountain. Looking at the fortress walls and towers from here, you are amazed at their grandeur and power. At the base of the hill stands memorial cross. It was erected in memory of the fallen defenders of the Izborsk fortress in 1657 during the war between Russia and Poland and Lithuania.

After going down the hill, we went to.

The road leading from Novgorod, Zvanitsa (now Leon Pozemsky Street) is a continuation of the road from Gdov and Narva.

Since 1601, along Izborskaya Street there has been a religious procession from Pskov to the Pskov-Pechorsky Monastery and back, established in memory of the events of 1581 related to the deliverance of the city from the troops of Stefan Batory.

Izborskaya Street led from the “living” bridge and the Church of the Assumption from Paromenya to the southwest. Its site is shown on the “Plan of the provincial city of Pskov” at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 19th century. XX centuries in the block between Rizhskaya, Konnaya and Knyazhevladimirskaya streets (now Gorky Street).

Map of Pskov 1889. Compiled by provincial engineer-architect Saturnin-Wojciech Jezerowski.
Fragment of the Provincial Plan of the City of Pskov of 1862

Along the northwestern edge of the ancient Izborskaya Street, the southern building of a residential building and the courtyard, which belonged at the beginning of the 20th century, are oriented. merchant P.D. Batov.

Riga highway. Izborskaya street turns left to southwest

In addition, the street route is indicated on the plan of Pskov indicating stone civil buildings of the 16th–17th centuries, compiled by Yu.P. Spegalsky; Along it, the researcher showed the buildings of Batov's courtyard, and near the intersection of modern Gorky and Konnaya streets - buildings, as he assumed, that belonged to the German Gostiny Dvor.

And northwest of the Nikolsky Kozhin Monastery. The chapel was built after the establishment of a religious procession from the Pechersky Monastery to Pskov in 1601.

According to legend, even earlier here, at the site of the battles, the Novgorod archbishop erected a stone cross. The stone chapel was preserved at the beginning of the twentieth century, from which the procession from Pechory turned from the Riga Road (highway) to the ancient Izborskaya Street.

One should also agree with the opinion of I.K. Labutina and B.N. Kharlashova , according to which Izborskaya is the middle of three streets shown diverging from the crossing of the river. The Great on icons from the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery and Zhiglevich.

On the “Plan of the provincial city of Pskov” of 1913, the road to the Chapel of the Lord’s Cross is marked southwest of the Church of St. Nicholas of Kamennograd, as a kind of continuation of the old street, which began near the bridge over the river. Great.

The Temple of St. Nicholas from the Stone Fence marked a kind of border of the city territory. It was called the Church of St. Nicholas from Izborskaya Street. This street ended and turned into the Old Izborskaya Road. This road led to Pechery and Izborsk. This was the big religious procession.

Horse lane and Batov's courtyard on a modern map. The red line on the modern map marks the approximate direction of Izborskaya Street

According to the Pskov redevelopment plan of 1778, Izborskaya Street was to be destroyed. However, the dense stone buildings that had developed by the end of the 18th century did not allow this to be done.

In the 19th century, new stone, half-stone and wooden philistine houses were built next to the medieval buildings. Judging by the plan of Pskov in 1857, drawn up by Pskov engineer I.F. Godovikov, all buildings were concentrated along the red line of Izborskaya Street. Orchards, traditionally laid out behind buildings in the depths of the estates, overlooked Rizhskaya Street (now Rizhsky Prospekt).

A fragment of the plan of the city of Pskov in 1857, compiled on the basis of data from the Pskov engineer I.F. Godovikova
184 - chambers that still exist today
185 - building shown by I.F. Godovikov on the plan of 1857 as the remains of buildings of the Hanseatic trading office. Shown on the 1781 plan.
186 - a building that existed back in the 30s of the 20th century. Shown on the plan of 1781 on Palmquist's plan (very approximate) a tavern is indicated at this location
187 - building, the ruins of which are shown on the plan of 1857. These ruins were measured by I.F. Godovikov, who considered them to be the remains of Mint buildings
188 - “Batov’s house”, residential chambers
189 - service building of “Batov’s house”. It has survived to this day.
190 - unpreserved part of the service buildings of the courtyard of “Batov’s house”. Shown on the 1857 plan.
191 - probably a residential building or barn. The remains of the building are shown by I.F. Godovikov on the plan of 1857
192 - chambers that may have belonged to the German Gostiny Dvor. The wooden upper floor of these chambers was demolished in 1924. The lower floor has survived to this day.
193, 194 - buildings that belonged to the German Gostiny Dvor. Broken in 1924
195 - residential building or sub-house. The remains of the building are shown by I.F. Godovikov on the plan of 1857.
196, 197 - buildings, the remains of which are shown on the plan of 1857.

If we look at the plan of Pskov in 1871 from Ilyin’s atlas, we will see that Rizhskaya Street and Izborskaya Street ran almost parallel. Comparing Ilyin’s atlas with a modern map, it becomes clear. that Izborskaya Street starts “from the ferry”, bypassing

October 26th, 2017 , 04:51 pm

Izborsk is a village in the Pechora district of the Pskov region, 300 kilometers from St. Petersburg, with a population of less than a thousand people. One of the oldest Russian cities.

And three brothers were chosen with their clans, and they took all of Rus' with them, and they came and the eldest, Rurik, sat in Novgorod, and the other, Sineus, in Beloozero, and the third, Truvor, in Izborsk. And from those Varangians the Russian land was nicknamed.

A Tale of Bygone Years

Having checked into the hotel, we waste no time and go to soak in the spirit of history, culture and unity with nature.

Directions. These Europeans of yours are about fifteen kilometers away in a straight line.

The main street is Pechorskaya.

Ten years ago there was sad abandonment here. Now money is being actively poured in here (someone has even been imprisoned), the gloom has disappeared and Izborsk is beginning to turn into a large museum. But at the same time, its authenticity is subtly lost. Hurry to see the beauty before it is splashed out in the struggle for the development of budgets in the implementation of promising tourism projects.

Traditional farmhouse from the 1930s. At that time (from 1920 to 1945) Izborsk was part of Estonia.

The courtyard of the estate of the pharmacist R. Ya. Rein (1925).

Houses of the estate of merchant Anisimov (1902), museum: paintings, archeology, ethnography, etc.
This is where the tourist part of Izborsk begins with various museums, shops and a newly built cobblestone street. And fashionable lanterns.

back view:

On the left is the house of the merchant Shvedov with an exhibition about merchant life and the local small Seto people. On the right is the estate of the merchant Belyanin (1895) with a historical and local history exhibition. Stone fences with large arched gates (as well as stone sheds) are a feature of Izborsk architecture. In the background are movie trailers.

How long or short, we reached the fortress.

Themed souvenirs.

Rainbow. Ruins of the Flat Tower, cathedral, main gate, Bell Tower.

Church of Sergius of Radonezh and Nikander (second half of the 18th century) opposite the fortress gates:

Like a mini-fortress.

There is an old cemetery on the territory of the church. On the right are medieval stone crosses (they are found everywhere in Izborsk).

You can try to read the monograms: on top CHРь (king) in the middle IC (Jesus) and ХСЪ (Christ), in the center there is a cross, at the bottom it is probably written NISA (Nike). This inscription is standard and tells us that Jesus Christ is the Victor.

And here he is in the iconostasis.

Atmospheric.

We enter the fortress through the Nikolsky Gate.

St. Nicholas Cathedral (first half of the 14th century with a bell tower from 1849).

inside:

Infographics about the joys of the afterlife.

In addition to the cathedral, the fortress has a couple of wooden houses and garden surroundings: trees, benches and paths. The main interest is the Lukovka tower on which the observation deck is located. Views of the surrounding area from it:

Inner territory of the fortress. In the background is the Temnushka Tower.

To the east - houses along Verovskaya Street and a bridge over the Smolka River.

Gorodishchenskoye Lake looks out to the north.

The northern wall of the fortress with a zhab, a square tower and a chapel, houses along Valgavska Street.

Onion. For some reason, it is located not outside the fortress, but inside it. In addition to the observation deck on the tower, you can climb the wall next to it, climb into the powder magazine under it, or look at the carts and catapults standing nearby.

or take a photo with the cat:

The weather could not be decided - it was raining, then the sun was starting to shine brightly. And we went to look at the fortress from the outside.

Ryabinovka Tower.

behind it is the Vyshka tower:

It is, accordingly, the highest - 19 meters. The enemy was advancing in this direction - the Livonian Order.

Square Talavskaya is the last seventh tower. The cliff begins behind it.

Mighty Tower.

and a couple of meters away from her, behind the fence, rural life is in full swing:

Chapel of the Korsun Mother of God (1931). It is believed that it was built on the site of a medieval mass grave of the defenders of the fortress.

View from the chapel to the northern wall and Lukovka.

Rainbow again.

The Izborsk fortress on Zheravya Mountain was built at the beginning of the 14th century to protect the western borders of the Pskov land. More than 600 meters of walls up to 10 meters high and up to 4 meters wide. It actively took part in the defense of Rus' from Western influence, until at the beginning of the 18th century, in the process of cutting a window to Europe by Peter, the fortress found itself deep in the rear, having lost its military significance.

Not far from the fortress, on the shore of Lake Gorodishchenskoye, there is a local wonder and wonder - the Slovenian Springs.

Along the path going down through the trees to the lake, springs gush out one after another - about twelve of them.

The Keys are a natural monument and Orthodox shrines with “legendary healing powers.” The people's path does not grow towards them - particularly impressionable citizens are ready to frantically elbow those around them in order to taste holy water (which is not approved by Rospotrebnadzor).

The springs gather into one big stream

Which flows into the lake:

There is a pier for swans here.

Swans are practically tame and eat from your hands.

We climb to the high shore of the lake. This area is a natural monument of the Pskov region "Izborsko-Malskaya Valley". A valuable natural object in ecological, scientific, cultural and aesthetic terms, with a unique natural landscape complex, outcrops of Devonian bedrock, ancient glacial landforms, hydrological objects (the rivers Skhidnitsa, Smolka, Obdekh, lakes Gorodishchenskoye and Malskoye), rich and unique vegetation, rare species of plants and animals.

Rainbow for the third time.

Slovenian field. A wide path leads to the place where Ancient Izborsk was located - the “Truvorov settlement”. The trees on the left on the hill are a modern cemetery.

St. Nicholas Church on the site (17th century). You have to climb a steep slope equipped with railings to get there.

But the most interesting thing will be a little before reaching the church:

At the corner of the modern cemetery lie medieval broken stone crosses and stone slabs carved with geometric Babylon patterns. One cross stands intact and unharmed.

Truvorov cross. Its glossy appearance shows signs of restoration in 2011, and is actually more than half a thousand years old. The inscriptions on it are similar to the inscriptions on the cross in the courtyard of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh and Nikander (King Jesus Christ - Superstar Nike). By the way, there is a stone with similar square “Babylons” near the church. Their meaning has not yet been deciphered.

In the fortress there is the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, and on the site of his ancient settlement, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, there is a church. And here is the grave of Living Nicholas.

A huge cross, more than two meters high, stands at the entrance to the ancient abandoned city, which, according to myths and legends, was ruled by Prince Truvor (accordingly, half a thousand years before the installation of the cross).

A settlement in this place was formed at the end of the 7th century as a tribal center of the Krivichi Slavs. It developed in the 8th-9th centuries through trade and crafts. In the 10-11th century, Izborsk became a full-fledged medieval city with a central princely fortification and a craft settlement around it. From the end of the 11th century it became a fortress on the western border of the Novgorod-Pskov land. At that time, the city gate was located in this place (this is a reconstruction).

At the beginning of the 14th century, for effective defense against the annoying knights of the Livonian Order, it was decided to build a new, more powerful fortress half a kilometer to the south, and Izborsk moved from here to its modern location. Only the fortress rampart has survived to this day at the Truvor settlement, on which there is an information board about the archaeological excavations:

View of the fort from the rampart. On the left is a ravine with a stream, on the right is a slope towards the lake. The resulting triangular cape cuts off the rampart, followed by a ditch behind it. Everything that archaeologists have dug up has been buried back until better times.

The tourist “Path of Health” symbolically begins from the church and cemetery.

The path descends from the settlement and winds through hills and ravines into the nearest forest. To the right there remains a dry swamp.

There are a couple of places along the route for an organized stop in the form of log cabins. It is prohibited to rest unorganizedly or even pick flowers - a security zone.

The first part of the route is called "Snake Beam". We didn’t particularly want to check the validity of such a name, so we walked quickly, didn’t leave the path, and didn’t peer into the nearby bushes.

view back to Truvorovo fortification:

Boundary stone is an ancient designation of the boundary of land holdings.

It’s very wet underfoot, and something is constantly crunching. As it turned out - snails.

A kilometer from Zmeina we reach Melnichnaya ravine. Here flows a rather turbulent Mill Stream, on which several mills used to stand. The sign tells us that next there will be tuff.

Strong bridge.

Remains of a mill.

spare part:

Fork: to the right a vigorous path goes to the village of Brod, and to the left they promise Kipun.

The path to the left looks more intriguing, let's go there.

After about half a kilometer of racing through the mud in the gathering dusk, we come to a deposit of limestone tuff - a porous rock, the main local building material. Having overcome a rather difficult (very slippery) climb along it, we emerge from the forest into the field:

To the right the trail goes to the village of Maly and to Lake Malskoe (about a kilometer and a half).

straight to the village of Konechki and sunset:

Eureka! An almost imperceptible, low-pass side trail led to the right place.

It's already completely dark, so this is the only way:

The water rushes through the tuff rocks, washing away the sand and creating a visual sensation of boiling.
Before the war, the priest from Malov went to bless it; the water was considered healing for the eyes. Knowledgeable people advised to perform the following ritual - 3 days before sunrise, you need to come to the spring and dip your face in it with your eyes open.
I can’t imagine how these Orthodox pagans even survive with their rituals.

The kipun is equipped with a bench, so we were finally able to take a break, drink tea and think about how to get back to Izborsk.

Oh, glory to you, wise ones, who invented the flashlight in a mobile phone.

We pass under the fortification and cemetery. Silhouette of the church against the background of the western pre-night sky. Some incomprehensible sounds are straining you from above, or your imagination is starting to play along.

At the turn to Slovenskie Klyuchi, a cat is rummaging in the trash - a domestic cat, with a collar. Even though everything is pitch dark here, there are already tourists passing by.

Chapel near the fortress. We're almost there.

The filmmakers are filming everything, even though it’s already nine in the evening.

It’s good that the hotel restaurant is open until eleven - let’s have a proper rest.

As promised, I continue to share with you, dear readers of the Pereprava portal, my impressions of participating in the Izborsk Club. This club was opened so pompously, and the Kremlin’s favor towards it was expressed so demonstrably that it will probably exist for some time.

In my words, believe me, there is not even a shadow of irony. I like this initiative: such a platform for a joint brainstorming session of the “sane opposition” is better than none at all. It’s better to have such a timid and clumsy nod from the “vertical” towards patriots and imperialists than to openly please the liberal-obsessed West.

Of course, we need a club, no doubt about it. But will he be able to fulfill his plans? Will it become a laboratory for developing a new strategy for Russia in extremely difficult internal and external conditions for it? Will his recommendations, if they come true, reach the ears of V. Putin and his entourage, or will they go straight to the shelf?

The question is not an idle one. And not only because the Kremlin’s consent to create a counterweight to the Valdai Forum of liberals may turn out to be another smokescreen, a clever trick in the spirit of V. Surkov: let the imperials talk, they won’t leave us, but they will gradually play off the growing discontent, and they themselves will they will always appear...

This is, of course, a version, but a version that is quite real in light of the extremely inconsistent policy of the regime, which is still trying to fit on two chairs at once - liberal and patriotic. So let none of us be particularly fascinated by the Kremlin’s shuffling with Prokhanov and his club. “Judge them according to their deeds,” teaches age-old spiritual wisdom. And facts are stubborn things. Judge for yourself: what a huge media arsenal the pro-Western liberals have, and what a meager one our home-grown patriots have. Elephant and Moska! It's a shame: in Moscow, the capital of Russia, there is still not a single FM band of a patriotic direction!

However, in addition to the cunning of the authorities, which cannot be taken away from them, there are other, no less important obstacles that could bury the idea of the “Izborsk Club” in its very embryo. We have partially touched on some of them in previous publications on this topic. It's time to draw the line. So, these are the weaknesses of the Izborsk Club, as perhaps the only representative of national-religious forces at this meeting saw them.

First: lack of unanimity and unanimity among the participants. Although all of them, according to A. Prokhanov, “know each other” and over time are called upon to become almost “an intellectual and spiritual partnership, or even a brotherhood,” in fact, a synthesis of ideas did not work out. Each speaker was self-sufficient and inclined to discuss only his own point of view. He came with her and left with her. Who and how will bring together and synthesize these very disparate and contradictory views in order to produce the desired “vector of the ideology of the new Russian state, find the codes of Russian development and eliminate the current imbalances,” and whether it will be left behind the scenes. Of course, such a question would be inappropriate if the participants themselves had initially and consciously subordinated themselves to the common and noble task of synthesis, but... to be honest, I did not notice such an attitude.

Second. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) wrote that a person consists of ninety percent of the devil, nine of book wisdom, and only one percent of God. The devilish principle in us manifests itself, first of all, through slavery to passions, and their mother is pride. While pride bubbles in the heart, there is nothing to think about unanimity and like-mindedness. Everyone will pull the blanket in their own direction. Another manifestation of the devilish spirit of division is preoccupation with the future. In Izborsk this was very noticeable. What kind of forecasts, calculated for decades to come, have not been piled up by our theorists! And everyone is different! Meanwhile, ask any of us: what will happen in five minutes, and the price of all these “quasi-mind-fantasies” will become obvious. By the will of God, the future is closed from mortal people by an impenetrable curtain, therefore... it will always be different than any (!) of our assumptions in this regard.

Third. The “Izborsk Club” initially carries within itself not only the seeds of discord that are inherent in our days to any meeting composed of people far from a deep and true understanding of the faith. In him, alas, the spirit of intellectual elitism and isolation from the aspirations and needs of ordinary people is strong and noticeable. You can formulate any plans, but who will implement them? One can, of course, hope that Putin will come to his senses and change over time, but where is the guarantee? Isn’t it better, instead of drifting after power, becoming more and more detached (like itself) from the deceived and robbed people, to go to this people, look for a common language with them, find out what they breathe and what can awaken them from hibernation in order... thereby ultimately influencing the authorities, and not expecting favors and handouts from them?

Fourth. “Izbortsy” do not seem to fully realize that the political opposition in Russia, without exception, is in deep stagnation and crisis, and the way out of this impasse is clearly not through theoretical “get-togethers.” Or rather, being sincere and knowledgeable people, they guess and sometimes even honestly admit the need to develop “bold, non-standard, breakthrough” solutions. The only trouble is that in that stuffy ideological and political environment where they were formed as individuals and thinkers, there are no such solutions anymore. And it cannot be. The “old” politics with its bankrupt ideologies has outlived its usefulness and has completely exhausted its potential. Looking for some “breakthrough solutions” in this dump of errors of the human mind is the same as, in the words of Confucius, looking in a dark room for a black cat that is not there.

Fifth. Remaining in the ranks of the Izborsk Club, we see our task not as convincing our colleagues and comrades. This is, frankly speaking, almost impossible. But we will:

a) persistently propose fresh and truly breakthrough ideas emerging in the depths of the national-religious flank of the opposition - the ideas of divine-human synthesis, spiritual-secular service, the formation of the people of God as the “leaven” of the new Russian world;

b) monitor the progress of the discussion within the club, and look for allies and fellow travelers in the hope that the Lord will introduce some of them into the “mind of truth”;

c) prevent possible provocations against this initiative from any side, including from the authorities.

Alexander Notin

Image source: http://pln-pskov.ru/

Coming from St. Petersburg- about 300 km, in Pskov region. Quite far away, so I recommend taking care of overnight stay. You can spend the night in the guest house Izborsk fortress or in one of the city hotels Pskov. In any case, you need to book a room in advance. There may not be any vacancies in the summer.

The most preferred method of transportation for this route is a personal car. This is the only way you will have time to see all the sights Izborsk fortress And Malskaya Valley no fuss. And even in Pechora Monastery You'll have time to take a look. You need to go along Kyiv highway to the city Pskov A. Next - according to Riga highway.

You can leave the car at the entrance to the fortress, or on one of the streets Old Izborsk.

A good option is to travel as part of a group on a tour bus. You will be slightly limited in your freedom of movement, but you will definitely be shown the main attractions.
If you are deeply Orthodox, you can go with the pilgrims. There are specialized pilgrimage tours, including Pskov-Izborsk-Pechory. The program will be somewhat specific: a prayer service during Pskov, inspection Izborsk fortress, trip to Pechora Monastery. Women are required to wear overalls - a skirt and a scarf.

It's difficult to get to by public transport. But it's quite real. You just need to go early in the morning. Before Pskov You can get there by train or regular bus. From Pskov before Izborsk from the Pskov bus station there is a bus to Old Izborsk And Pechory(through Old Izborsk). You will have to plan your route very clearly to connect with all the buses/trains. If everything goes well, there will also be a couple of hours to Pskov will remain.