The cultural layer in the city of Ostrov dates back to 1341, this is how archaeologists date, finds at the 1.9 m depth level show the 14th-15th centuries, then strict records were kept, there is written evidence, come to the Island, you will find very interesting documents in the Historical Museum. A walk around the Island will leave in your memory the most pleasant memories.
In the middle of the Great River on Hare Island stands the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the most interesting among all the temples of the Island - its domes are not covered with gold, they are green. The place under the church was determined where the fortress used to be. Today, restoration work is underway, and excavations are being carried out here. It is not traditionally set up; the altar is facing north. Why it is so chosen the direction of the altar - today it is difficult to answer, either towards Pskov, or so St. Nicholas the Wonderworker himself commanded.
The first mention of the church dates back to 1764, the drum of the church is interesting, and now you can read the ornate inscription made on ceramics on it. The church itself is built of lime slab. There are 4 bells in the belfry - 2 large and two small.
You can still walk along the old gray slabs of the former fortress - the very first building in the Island. Once, in a fortress, an important outpost of the Pskov region, people were hiding during enemy raids, today you can come to the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to help - as legend has it, all secret honest wishes come true.
Magnificent suspension bridges
You can cross the Velikaya River through chain bridges - unique structures. In 1850, the construction of chain bridges across the Velikaya River was started according to the project of Mikhail Yakovlevich Krasnopolsky - these bridges adorn the city today, at one time Pushkin drove along them. The island was a fairly developed merchant town, in which fairs were held. At first it was planned to build arched bridges here. But the project turned out to be too expensive, so we stopped precisely on the version of Mikhail Krasnopolsky. Each traveler is obligatory photographed against the background of bridges, they serve only as a pedestrian crossing over the Velikaya River, young locks will be sure to attach young castles to the metal bars of the structures during the wedding process, and the key will be thrown into the river: how many such keys are at the bottom of the Velikaya River is impossible to say.
The design of suspended wooden bridges is unique; before in Russia such structures had never been built. To save the bridges, cars are not allowed to pass over them, and large masses of people on the bridges do not stop. According to the chronicles, Mikhail Krasnopolsky received the Order of St. Anne for the design of bridges .
The bridge, severely damaged during the war, was completely restored in its original form. It is on this bridge that you can go to the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Settlement.
Trinity Cathedral in the Island
If you go further across the Velikaya River, then you will approach the existing church - Trinity Cathedral, its bells daily carry a crystal ringing over the river. Amazing architectural building with clear lines, with three entrances, a large dome and an onion with a cross. It is visible from all sides, both at the entrance to the city, and from the opposite bank.
Trinity Cathedral took the place of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Streletskaya Sloboda was located along Velikaya Street along the river; it supplanted the “black courtyards” and numbered 100 yards. There were also Bridge, Viceroyalty and Pushkarskaya Sloboda. There were also four mills, interesting buildings with different wheels, the owners were the Pskov Alekseevsky Monastery and the Ostrovsky Nikolsky Cathedral. Here houses of rich people and nobles found their place, and baths were not far away.
In addition to the Pokrovsky girl’s monastery, there was also the Ilyinsky Monastery, which existed until 1764, after its abolition, a flour mill appeared on the site of Steep Mound, and the land was plowed under the kitchen gardens. It was at this time that the first mention of Siman farmers appeared, they became the future owners of the village of Ekaterinovka.
The original shape of the cathedral is slightly changed, two new porches appeared, the mosaic floor is removed from metlakh tiles. New outbuildings have columns, wide steps lead inside the cathedral.
Directly opposite the Trinity Cathedral are the famous "Iron Rows" - the so-called first shops on the right bank of the Great River. This name is still used by the townspeople, although there are no "iron" shops anymore, the gunners who gave the name to this trading place have disappeared.
Come to a quiet province to relax
For the first time, records of a village called Ostrov can be found in Russian chronicles; there are records from 1341 that mention a small village in the middle of the Great River, on the very border of the Russian land. The first clashes with the Germans - the year 1348, the battle near the village of Islands with the Germans and Lithuanians. Year 1406 - battle with Vitov and a campaign with the Russian troops on the lands of Lithuanians.
The scribes Grigory Meshchaninov-Morozov and his associate Ivan Drovnin left the most interesting records about the city of Ostrov - they were instructed to make a complete description of all the cities and suburban towns of Pskov, and not only describe the state in which the settlements are located, but also compare them with the previous ones records of these places. The records were completed by the years 1585-1587, they describe in detail both the economy and the construction of the Island.