Completed Projects
Izborsk, Russia
Located in the western Russian region of Pskov near the border with Estonia, Izborsk Fortress has survived for over 1,500 years and is one of the most ancient Russian towns, mentioned in chronicles as early as 862. Along with its environs, it is a unique example of concentration of a large number of archaeological sites, and architectural structures dating to various periods of the 1,500-year long history of ethnographic culture in unbreakable integrity of the historical and landscape complex which has maintained its continuous development up to these days.
Izborsk began as a small settlement of the Slavic Krivich tribe. A more permanent wooden fortress was built in the mid 10th century, later replaced by a stone fortress occupying the hill’s entire summit at the end of the 11th century. In the early 14th century, Izborsk Fortress was moved to neighboring Zheravya (Crane) hill 700 meters from the first site, where it still stands today. Abandoned in the 16th century, deterioration rapidly accelerated as the mortars, which previously sealed the walls and towers disintegrated, and wood roofing protecting the ancient walls disappeared. The region’s extreme weather cycles of freezing and thawing further contributed to the deterioration of Izborsk’s last remaining walls and towers. Izborsk Fort was included on the Russian Federation’s World Heritage Tentative List as part of the Great Pskov collective nomination in 2002. The Izborsk-Malsk complex has maintained the traditional pattern of settlement, the unique town-planning and architectural and fortification complex in its historical development with elements and traces of different periods, the local building school and the local construction materials as well as all kinds of examples of construction art of different periods of history.
