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Pechory is located in the Pskov region, 53 km from
Pskov. Pechory stands on the very border with Estonia, passing along
the river Tansy (Piuse), which flows north of the city. The first
mention of the monastery caves (Pechora) dates back to 1392. The
founding date of the city is considered to be 1473, when the cave
temple was consecrated in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin Mary and thus marked the beginning of the Pechora Monastery,
around which the fortress of the same name soon grew. The walls and
towers were built in the second half of the XVI century, at the
beginning of the Livonian War. Although Russia eventually lost the
war, the fortress remained Russian and in the XVII century
successfully withstood several sieges, but after the Northern War it
lost its importance, since the entire northern Baltic Region became
part of the Russian Empire, that is, the border shifted to the west.
The posad, which grew up around the monastery, received city
status in 1782 and even became the center of the county — however,
not for long. Already in 1796, the county was liquidated, Pechora
turned into a small town, almost a monastic settlement, although by
the beginning of the XX century there was still a zemstvo hospital
and a school. In 1889, the Pskov—Riga railway passed through the
northern outskirts of the city, in 1931 a branch line to Tartu was
built, and Pechory became a hub station. The development of the
"ground" part of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery is largely connected
with this, the pre-revolutionary period, when numerous eclectic and
Baroque buildings were added to a pair of temples of the XVI
century. They form the modern look of the monastery, allowing the
eye to escape from the traditional Pskov architecture.
After
the revolution, Pechora found itself in the zone of confrontation
between the Red Army and independent Estonia, and under the terms of
the Tartu Peace Treaty of 1920, it became part of the latter, where
it quickly turned into a significant, although not very large city:
the 11th in terms of population, but the second in terms of growth.
The urban appearance of Pechora was formed during this period, which
was further facilitated by a major fire in 1939, so that almost all
stone buildings outside the monastery were built in the short period
between the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. In terms of the
representativeness of Estonian architecture, Pechora is almost
superior to Rakvere and second only to the interwar quarters of
Tallinn. The proportion of the Estonian population has changed no
less dramatically: from one and a half hundred people before the
revolution to more than two thousand (50-60%) in the 1930s. After
the war, the Pechora district was incorporated into the Pskov
region, and the national composition returned to the state of a
hundred years ago: now about one percent of Estonians live in
Pechora, and the rest is predominantly Russian.
In addition
to the characteristic urban architecture, Estonia contributed to the
preservation of the Pechora Monastery: it continued to operate in
the 1920s and 30s, when all monasteries in the territory of the
Soviet Union were closed. Thus, the Pskov-Pechora Monastery is the
only monastery in Russia that has been continuously operating since
its foundation. Today, it forms the image of the city: there are
always a lot of pilgrims here, and in shops or, for example, at the
bus station you will almost certainly see people in cassocks. By the
standards of the Pskov region, Pechora looks like a prosperous city:
almost no abandoned buildings are visible, fresh asphalt is laid on
the central streets, bus schedules are posted at stops.
Nevertheless, there is more than enough dust and dirt here, and not
all city streets have sidewalks.
The date of foundation of the monastery is considered
to be the year of the consecration of the Assumption Cave Church, dug by
the founder of the monastery, St. John. However, legend has it that the
local sand caves, which gave rise to the cave temple, have been
inhabited since ancient times by natives of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery,
who fled to Pskov lands from the raids of the Crimean Tatars.
After
the consecration of the cave church, the first wooden monastery
buildings began to be erected on the slopes of the ravine, which were
destroyed by the Livlanders a few years later. The beginning of the XVI
century was marked by work on the expansion of the cave church and the
construction of new monastic buildings, which this time were built next
to the church, right in the ravine. A unique six-span belfry has come
down to us from that time.
The construction of the monastery reached
its peak under Abbot Cornelius, who ruled the monastery from 1529 to
1570. It was during his reign that the construction of stone buildings
was started, some of which have survived to the present day. With the
active participation of Cornelius, the Annunciation Church (1541), St.
Nicholas Gate Church (1565) and fortress walls with seven towers and
three gates (1565) were built.
For a monastery located near the
northwestern borders of the state, a powerful defensive structure was
simply vital. But it seems that it was the construction of the fortress
that played a fatal role in the fate of Cornelius himself. When Ivan the
Terrible, who gave permission for the construction of only a small
monastery fence, saw the new fortress, he, in a fit of rage, cut off the
abbot's head. Legend has it that after that, instantly repenting, the
king picked up Cornelius' body and carried it to the monastery, leaving
a trail of blood behind him. Since then, the road from the main gate of
the Nikolskaya Tower to the main square of the monastery has been called
the "bloody way".
From the end of the XVI century to the first
quarter of the XVIII century, the monastery survived several devastating
enemy attacks, but still the enemy never managed to take the fortress.
In 1701, by decree of Peter I, earthen fortifications were built around
the monastery (they are still clearly visible today), which made it
possible to withstand the attack of the Swedes in 1703. After the
conclusion of the Peace of Nishtad, which pushed the borders of the
country to the west, the monastery began to grow rich and continued
intensive construction. In 1758, the Intercession Church was built over
the ancient Assumption Church, in 1775 new Fraternal cells appeared, and
at the end of the XVIII century, the Lazarev Church was built at the
monastery hospital. In 1827, in memory of the deliverance from the
French invasion, the cathedral church of St. Michael the Archangel was
erected in the monastery. And at the end of the XIX century, the classic
Sretensky Church, the rector's house and a brick refectory, made in the
pseudo-Russian style, appeared.
The construction of the monastery fortress was started
in 1558, simultaneously with the outbreak of the Livonian War
(1558-1583). The fortress has a very unusual layout. The main courtyard
of the monastery is located in a deep ravine, through which flows a deep
stream Kamenets. The southeastern and northwestern walls of the fortress
are placed along the banks of the ravine, and the other two walls cross
the ravine, providing a great example of solving fortification and
engineering problems during the construction of a fortress on rough
terrain.
The fortress walls are 810 meters long, form an
irregular polygon and are fortified with nine towers. Contrary to the
accepted canons, the southern and eastern breaks of the fortress walls
were left without towers, but the fortress does not have non-firing
sections of the walls. The fortress was built from a local limestone
slab with the partial addition of boulder stones on a lime mortar. The
walls are traditionally equipped with rectangular or square loopholes,
but in places they are extremely small in thickness: one and a half to
two meters at the sole. In such places, the circular combat course in
the upper part of the walls is organized along wooden embedded beams,
and in wide areas you can walk directly along the wall.
A total
of nine towers have survived to this day:
1 Peter's Gate Tower. Built
in the middle of the XVII century, the tower is not only the main
entrance to the fortress, but also serves as the Holy Gate of the
monastery and therefore differs from the other towers of the fortress by
the presence of decoration in the form of an elegant wooden gallery
encircling the tower. The completion of the tower is very unusual and
made in the style of the Ukrainian Baroque, when instead of one, several
tiers of domes are used, placed one on top of the other. The dome of the
Holy Gate has a two-tiered structure, where a small gilded one is
located on top of the blue pear-shaped dome. This completion repeats the
arrangement of the domes of the Pokrovsky Temple of the monastery and,
apparently, appeared after its construction, that is, not earlier than
the middle of the XVIII century.
Before the construction of the
Petrovsky Tower, there was a solid wall between the Prison and
Nikolskaya towers and it was possible to enter the fortress through the
knobby passage of the Nikolskaya Church. In 1913, a new brass clock was
installed on the tower. On the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus,
a small chapel was built in honor of Cornelius at the Holy Gates.
2 A prison or Prison tower. A small, round tower is located next to the
Holy Gate.
3 Tile Tower. Round in plan, the tower is placed in a
break in the walls in the western corner of the fortress. It is the most
powerful tower of the fortress (height 12.5 meters, diameter more than
14 meters), although it differs relatively small for fortress towers
with a wall thickness of 2.5 meters. The tower stands at the top of the
ravine and has five combat tiers with 33 combat windows. The fourth tier
of the tower is equipped with loopholes for mounted combat, which is
very rare for fortresses in the northwest.
4 Tower of Upper grilles.
Square in plan, 22 meters high, the tower stands at the bottom of the
ravine on a straight section of the wall between the Tailovskaya and
Tararygina towers, crossing the ravine almost across. A streambed runs
through the basement of the tower, lying at the bottom of the ravine.
Once the lower tier was closed with a lattice - hence the name of the
tower. The tower of the Upper Gratings has six combat tiers, the upper
of which is designed for hand weapons and contains a large number of
loopholes.
5 Tararygina tower. Like the Tylovskaya tower, it stands
at the top of the ravine and limits a section of the wall running
through heavily rugged terrain. Before the destruction by the Swedes in
1615, the tower was round in plan, later it was restored with a
rectangular section.
6 Izborskaya Tower. It is located 25 meters
from the fracture of the walls and has a shape close to a circle. A
passage gate has been made in the side facade of the tower and its lower
tier is covered with a vault. Of the three combat tiers, the second one
deserves the most attention, equipped with loopholes for mounted combat.
7 The Annunciation Tower. Rectangular in plan, this tower is also
placed outside the break in the wall and looks like Tararygin Tower. It
has an unusual design of combat chambers equipped with not one, but two
loopholes looking in different directions. Such a device allowed firing
from one camera in two different directions.
8 The tower of the
Lower grilles. Like the tower of the Upper Gratings, it is located at
the bottom of the ravine, which in this place has a large width, which
made it possible to arrange a culvert on the side of the tower. The
tower is rectangular in plan, has four combat tiers, and the shape of
its loopholes resembles the tower of the Upper Gratings.
9
Nikolskaya Tower. Horseshoe-shaped in plan, the tower, in fact, is a
defensively adapted extension to the northern facade of St. Nicholas
Church. It has two tiers of loopholes, the lower of which is designed
for mounted combat.
Another, a timber tower, once stood on a
straight section of the wall between the Prison and Tailovskaya Towers,
on the site of the current St. Michael's Cathedral.
The inner part of the monastery has an upper and a
lower platform. The most interesting one, the lower one, is located in a
deep ravine and is densely surrounded by trees, so you can only see this
part from the observation deck located at the northern wall of the
monastery, between the Nikolskaya Tower and the tower of the Lower
Lattices. The center of the monastery's architectural composition is the
Assumption Cathedral located on the lower platform, along with the
Intercession Church erected above it and a unique six-span belfry. They
are raised on a stone-paved pedestal, to which two staircases lead.
10 Cave Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1478).
The oldest monument of the entire ensemble, dug into the sandy slope of
the mountain. It represents seven streets of caves. The northern facade
of the church is combined with the facade of the Intercession Church,
built over the Assumption Church in the middle of the XVIII century.
Since 2014, lay people have been allowed into the caves only by
appointment, accompanied by monks.
11 Church of the Intercession of
the Most Holy Theotokos (1759). The Baroque Church of the Intercession
was built on top of the cave Assumption Church and shares a northern
facade with it. The building is divided by capital walls into several
rooms. The two extreme ones are stairs, the right one leads to the Holy
Mountain, the left one is the entrance to the caves. The Church of the
Intercession itself is located in the middle part.
Facing the
monastery courtyard, the northern facade is richly decorated with
pilasters, decorative architraves and Baroque pediments. The domes of
the Intercession Cathedral with multi-tiered domes are made in the
Ukrainian Baroque style and are placed similarly to the domes of the
Kiev Pechora Lavra, where the drums are placed not on the ridge, but on
the slope of the roof. The five heads of the church are located along
the facade of the building and form a symmetrical multi-height
composition of two pairs of two-tiered domes around a high three-tiered
one. Under the broken pediments, picturesque inserts are arranged on the
sides of the drums. Like the paintings on the facade of the church, they
are modern oil compositions with a stylization of the painting of the
middle of the XVIII century. Above the entrance to the church there is a
large Kiev-Pechersk icon of the Mother of God with the Venerable Anthony
and Theodosius coming to Her.
12 Belfry (1523). The six-span belfry
of the XVI century monastery with the second tier erected in the XVII
century is one of the largest structures of this type. And among the
bells of the belfry there are several unique samples created in the
XVI−XVIII centuries. A clock of the XVI century is placed in a special
tower next to the belfry. The first bell, counting from the clock,
"Polyeleum", was made by Pskov foundry craftsmen in 1558 "by the order
of abbot of the Pechersk monastery Cornelius". The bell is decorated
with two ribbons of ornament and, according to chronicle data, its
weight is 161 pounds. Further, in the uncut span of the belfry, there is
the largest bell of the monastery − the "Festive" one. It was cast in
the monastery itself in 1690 by the Pskov master Fyodor Klementyev and
is the only surviving example of his work. The "All-day" bell, placed on
the second tier of the belfry, was cast in 1765 in Moscow and weighs 111
pounds. All three large bells are suspended on rotating axes and to
extract sound they are swung using special poles. This is the only place
in Russia where such an ancient method of ringing is still used, which
was widespread throughout Russia in the XVI−XVII centuries. Among the
small bells located above the large ones, there are also several ancient
bells of the XVI century.
In addition, on the lower platform of
the monastery there are:
13 Sacristy with library (XVI-XVII century).
The construction of the sacristy was started under Abbot Cornelia, but
the first building was destroyed in a fire in 1688. The extant building
was made mainly in the XVII century in the Moscow style. The building
stands on the site of a large height difference and therefore its
northern facade has one floor more than the southern one. The building
is close to a cube in shape, covered with a faceted vault pierced by
four dormer windows and topped with an elegant blue dome. The sacristy
itself occupies the second floor, and the library is located on the
third. The two-tiered Pskov porch, located at the southern facade of the
building, is very picturesque. No less interesting are the facades of
the sacristy with their white relief architraves against the red ochre
background of the main building. There are many examples of Russian
applied art of the XVI-XIX centuries preserved in the sacristy, some of
them are associated with the names of famous Russian rulers.
14
Sretensky Church (1868-1870). It was built by Abbot Nifont, the vicar of
the monastery, in the pseudo-Russian style instead of the earlier
Sretensky Church of 1670, which, in turn, was preceded by two more
temples of the same name. According to the original design, the facade
of the church was supposed to be symmetrical and should not have closed
with the sacristy, but during construction an insert appeared connecting
the two buildings. The center of the facade is highlighted by paired
pilasters, above which is a parapet with a truncated gable. A deaf drum
with a small dome is placed on the gable, and a kiosk with a late
picturesque composition "Candlemas" is made under it. Above the corner
pilasters of the building, parapet columns with small metal tents and
crosses are placed turned to the edge.
15 Annunciation Church (1540).
It appeared during the active construction of the monastery under Abbot
Cornelia on the site of the wooden church of the Forty Martyrs. At
first, the church served as a refectory. Now it is located between the
later buildings - the Fraternal Building and the Sretensky Church. The
main volume of the church is covered with an eight-pitched roof, on
which a deaf drum is placed, topped with a blue dome. In the upper part
of the drum there is a belt with a hand-knitted inscription. It is
believed that this belt is the earliest among the Pskov monuments of the
XVI century.
16 Fraternal Corps (1827). The two-storey stone
building with a triangular pediment over four columns is designed in the
classical style by M.N.Golubev. Cells for monks are located on the
second floor, the lower floor is given over to the refectory.
17 Refectory (1883). It is built of red brick in the pseudo-Russian
style. It has a symmetrical composition of the main facade, the
decorative decoration of which is based on the contrast between brick
walls and whitewashed relief decor of profile bricks. The roof of the
building is decorated with four symmetrically placed columns with a
gable top.
18 St. Lazarus Church (1792-1800). A small and almost
devoid of decoration church was built at the monastery hospital. Its
only decoration is a magnificent two-tiered dome in the style of
Ukrainian Baroque, placed on a faceted drum with a pedestal.
19 The
Abbot's House (1883). It is located at the foot of the hillside,
opposite the main buildings of the lower platform of the monastery. A
covered gallery leads from the abbot's house to the upper landing. edit
On the lower platform of the monastery opposite the sacristy, in an
open wooden gazebo, you can see an ancient well with a wheel, and
opposite the Annunciation Church in a brick chapel there is an artesian
well.
The most significant structures on the upper platform of
the monastery are:
20 The Church of St. Nicholas the Goalkeeper
(1564-1565). St. Nicholas Church was built under Abbot Cornelia and
served as both the entrance to the fortress and the Holy Gate. The name
of its immediate creator, master Peter Zabolotny, in the tonsure of
Paphnutius, has come down to us. In those troubled times, weapons were
kept under the stone porch of the church to defend against enemies. The
infamous Bloody Path begins from St. Nicholas Church (see above),
leading to the cave church, because it was at its gates, according to
legend, that the tragedy that killed Cornelius took place.
The church
is distinguished by its restrained decor. The facade facing the
monastery is cut through by flat blades connected by arcs, and the small
dome is decorated with several openwork belts. On the west side, the
church is practically devoid of decoration, but from the Petrovsky Tower
there is a harmonious view of the two-span belfry, probably built at the
same time as the church. Under the belfry, which is called the small one
(unlike the large belfry of the lower platform), there is a high porch
decorated with wide open openings. The appearance of the belfry
underwent significant distortions during the construction of the XIX
century, and later one of its openings was damaged during the Great
Patriotic War. The former appearance of the belfry was returned only in
1945.
21 Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel (1815-1827). The
cathedral was built in memory of the deliverance from the invasion of
French troops in 1812. Legend has it that on October 7, 1812, a
procession was held in Pskov with the miraculous image of the Assumption
of the Mother of God, brought from the Pskov-Pechora Monastery. On this
very day, the troops of General P.H. Wittgenstein defeated the enemy
near Polotsk and thereby saved Pskov from the invasion of the French.
The temple was built according to the project of architect A.I. Rusk,
and funds for its construction were collected among the soldiers of the
Wittgenstein corps and the Pskov militia.
22 "House of the Sagittarius", Verkhovych Street, 4.
Miraculously preserved log two-storey manor house of the first half of
the 18th century. The shortest way to the house is along the path from
Podgornaya Street. January 2016
23 The Church of the Forty Martyrs
of Sebaste (1817).
24 St. Peter's Lutheran Church (1926). January
2016
25 The Setu wooden Church of St. Barbarians (XVIII century).
26 Shopping malls (1920s). A monument of architecture in the style
of functionalism.
Pechora Museum of the History of the city, 3 Mezhdunarodnaya str. To the right of the museum is the main observation deck overlooking the monastery.
Souvenirs. There are many shops selling various
souvenirs near the entrance to the monastery.
Supermarkets. There are
3 large supermarkets - Bee, Magnet, Dixi and many smaller stores.
Despite its proximity to the border, Pechora is not
part of the border zone and is open to all comers.
By train
1 Pechora-Pskovskie station. The border station is located 3 km north
of the city center and just a couple hundred meters from the Estonian
border. There is no passenger traffic. You can cross the border on foot
and go to Tartu from the Estonian Koidula station (2 trains per day).
By bus
Buses and minibuses from Pskov run at intervals of 30-60
minutes from early morning to 21:00, on the way from 1 h 15 min to 1.5
h. They can go on different routes, which should not confuse you,
unless, of course, you want to visit Izborsk: in this case, you need to
choose flights through Old Izborsk. Please note that in Pskov, some
minibuses depart from Lenin Square, and not from the bus station.
There are 2 daily flights to St. Petersburg at 5:30 and 11:00
(return: 13:30 and 17:30), 5 hours on the way, cost 550 rubles (2014),
tel. +7 (911) 690-00-60. There are direct buses to Moscow twice a week:
Sun, Tue 14:00 (back: Mon, Wed 13:00), cost 1100 rubles, tel. +7 (911)
362-03-62.
International flights: Pskov—Tallinn and Pskov—Narva,
both daily, pass through Tartu (2.5 hours). Niva LLC operates separate
flights to Tartu (4 times a week, twice a day, including in the evening,
which is important for those who do not want to leave Pechora in the
middle of the day) and to Vyra (2 times a week). In conditions of strict
secrecy, a daily bus runs to the Latvian city of Aluksne (2 hours):
departure from the bus station, there is no schedule.
2 Bus
station, Yuryevskaya street, intersection with Svobody Street. ☎ +7
(81148) 2-16-52. 8:00 – 19:00. An old (almost pre-war) pavilion one
block from the shopping malls. There is only a cash register and a few
benches inside. The square in front of the bus station resembles an
ordinary city square, from which, however, buses depart. In addition to
the bus station on the same square, but on the side of the fire tower,
there is a pavilion of Niva LLC with its own ticket office. This
pavilion serves urban routes, Pskov buses via Pechki (i.e. not via Stary
Izborsk) and international routes to Estonia.
By car
The A212
Pskov — Riga highway runs 15 km from Pechora, 53 km from Pskov. The
section from Stary Izborsk to Pechora is considered a toll road, but the
fee is charged only at the border, so travel across Russia to Pechora is
free. In fact, Pechora is a dead end. Then there is only the road to
Estonia, leading to the capital of the land of Setu — the city of
Vyarska (25 km) and then to Tartu (100 km) or Vyra (45 km). If you need
to go to Latvia, return to Old Izborsk and follow the Riga highway.
3 Kunichina Gora border crossing (auth. 3,6). Around the clock. It
is located 2 km north of the city. Both cars and pedestrians are allowed
through, and pedestrians go through the same windows as motorists. From
Oktyabrskaya Pechor Square, walk along Yuryevskaya Street without
turning anywhere: you will go right to the border, crossing which you
will find yourself in the town of Koidula — a village with a population
of 1 inhabitant. Trains to Tartu run from here a couple of times a day,
as well as buses to Tartu and Vyra (with about the same regularity). In
short, for a hiking traveler, the place is not the most promising. If
you still decide to walk, pass under the bridge from the border and
immediately turn left along the railway: the station is about a
kilometer from this place, the bus stop is there. However, it is easier
to cross the border by bus, which will obviously take you somewhere deep
into Estonia. Motorists should keep in mind the queue booking system at
the border, which works here in both directions (see also Narva), but
there is no waiting area on the Russian side as such: you just need to
drive up to the booth where they charge for the road. The passage to
Koidula is considered relatively free, but sometimes queues accumulate
here too. Immediately after the border, you will be charged for driving
along the Pechora highway: 150 rubles (2014). edit
There are three city bus routes in Pechory, but
travelers who want to explore the monastery and the city will definitely
not need them. They will be needed by those who want to cross the border
(auth. 3,6) or see the church in Tailovo (auth. 2). All buses pass
through the bus station (Pobedy Square). They run at intervals of 15-60
minutes, and many stops have timetable signs. Routes and schedules
Taxi: +7 (81148) 2-61-10, taxi stand on Pobedy Square opposite the
bus station.
1 Cafe "Breeze", Pskov str. 1 (central square).
8:00 – 20:00. Set lunch: 150 rubles (2014). A shabby environment with
white oilcloths spread out on the tables. Visitors don't recommend it,
and you don't want to either. Incredibly, there is Wi-Fi.
2 Dining
room "Tablecloth-samobranka", Oktyabrskaya pl. 6 (in the building of
shopping malls). 8:00 – 22:00. Hot dishes: about 100 rubles (2014). It's
a bit dirty and not the most pleasant contingent, but for a quick snack
in the vicinity of the monastery this is the most suitable place. There
is always a lean menu, there are cakes and coffee from the machine.
Opinions about the quality of the dishes vary.
3 Cafe "Lilia", 1a
Rizhskaya str. (center). ☎ +7 (81148) 2-18-32. 10:00 – 24:00. Hot
dishes: about 100 rubles (2012). Good reviews.
4 Cafe "Old Tower",
Oktyabrskaya str. 7 (center). ☎ +7 (964) 314-29-03. 9:00 – 21:00. Hot
dishes: 250-300 rubles. The cafe located in the old water tower looks
like a restaurant, but in fact it is an ordinary dining room with a
menu, service and a reliable interior, as well as not the most pleasant
smell coming from the kitchen. A dozen types of dumplings and dumplings,
as many salads and soups, although not all of them are available. The
food is served in nice clay pots, but the prices could be lower. There
is a coffee machine, there are no desserts. Wi-Fi.
5 Cafe "Comfort",
Alleynaya str., 4 (on the outskirts). ☎ +7 (81148) 2-25-77. Sun–Thu
12:00 – 24:00, Fri–Sat 12:00 – 2:00. Hot dishes: 250-300 rubles (2014).
A nice place: the food is very tasty, fast and not too expensive. The
building is completely unremarkable from the outside, but inside it is a
cozy and non-irritating interior. The visitors are unanimous in their
praise. This is probably the best cafe in Pechora. However, please note
that the price of hot food is indicated for 100 grams.
1 Pechory Park Hotel, 2B Gagarin Street (at the
entrance from Pskov). ☎ +7 (81148) 2-33-27, +7 (906) 221-57-37, +7 (960)
224-15-45, Pechory_Park. Double room without shower/with shower:
1900/2900 RUB (2014). A new and pretty good hotel, but for some reason
there is no shower in the standard rooms, although there is a sink and
toilet. Wi-Fi.
2 Planeta Hotel, 10 Mira Street (in the center). ☎ +7
(81148) 2-45-16, +7 (911) 363-00-35. Double room: 2000-2400 rubles
(2014). According to the hotel's website, the rooms have: "toilet,
bathroom, hot and cold water, TV." It seems that the situation has not
changed since Soviet times. There is paid Internet access from a desktop
computer in the lobby.
3 Mini-hotel "Vash Bereg", Kuznechnaya str.,
17. ☎ +7 (911) 695-83-96, +7 (963) 335-27-30. Double room: 1500 rubles;
bed in a multi-bed room (men and women separately): 500 rubles (2013). A
private hotel offering fairly simple separate rooms from 1 to 6 beds
(amenities: shared shower with hot water and 2 toilets for 3 rooms,
kitchen, microwave, refrigerator) and 2 separate guest houses
(amenities: own toilet, hot shower, refrigerator, microwave). Wi-Fi. A
place for vehicles. Very nice hostess and good reviews.
4 Hostel
"Wanderer" , Oktyabrskaya pl. 2. ☎ +7 (81148) 2-25-91, +7 (911)
691-34-14. 750 RUB/person in a multi-bed room (2013). It is conveniently
located 250 meters from the monastery, but apart from the beds there is
nothing else in the room. Problems with heating. Mostly negative
reviews. Wi-Fi.
The name "Pechora" comes from the Old Rus. "caves"
(caves), the date of opening of which is determined by the monastic
chronicle in 1392.
The foundation of the Pechora settlement dates
back to 1472. According to the chronicles, this event is connected with
the activities of the Orthodox priest Ivan (in monasticism — Jonah), who
in 1472 fled here from Dorpat (Tartu) after the defeat of the "orthodox
church set up from Pskov" by the Catholic Germans, and founded the
Pskov-Pechersk Holy Dormition Monastery; the settlement developed as a
settlement under this the monastery. In 1473, the Assumption Church of
this monastery, originally cut into a cave, was consecrated.
In
the XVI — early XVIII centuries, Pechora was an important strategic
point on the western borders of the Russian state. At the beginning of
the XVI century, the monastery was destroyed by the Catholic knights of
Livonia, but soon rebuilt. He became especially strong and rich under
Abbot Cornelia (he ruled the monastery from 1529 to 1570).
In
1565, the monastery was surrounded by walls with 9 watchtowers and three
gates (after which it became known as the Pechora Fortress), and inside
the stone Annunciation Church and the gate St. Nicholas Church were
built. It was here (if not by Cornelius himself, then under his direct
supervision) that the chronicle was compiled — the Third Pskov
Chronicle. In the same year 1565, when Tsar Ivan the Terrible divided
the Russian state into oprichnina and zemshchyna, the city became part
of the latter.
In 1581-1582, the Pechora fortress withstood the
siege of the troops of the Polish king Stefan Batory, in 1611-1616 — the
Polish troops of Jan Chodkiewicz and the Swedish troops of Gustav II
Adolf, during the Northern War of 1700-1721 — the siege of the Swedish
troops of Charles XII in 1701 and 1703.
By a personal decree of
Empress Catherine II dated June 7 (18), 1782, Pechora received the
status of a city, which became the center of the Pechora District formed
by the same decree.
The coat of arms of the city was approved by
Catherine II on December 29, 1782 (January 9, 1783).
In the 1st part
of the shield, there is a leopard in a blue field and a hand coming out
of the clouds above it. This was introduced in order to ensure that this
city belongs to the Pskov Viceroyalty.
In the 2nd part of the shield,
in a silver field made of stone called Pechera, there is a mountain in
which a cave is visible, which really exist in that place.
The
Pechora district did not last long. According to the states of the
provinces approved by Paul I on December 31, 1796 (January 11, 1797),
Pskov province was divided into six counties. At the time of the
publication of the states, the province consisted of nine counties and,
consequently, three were subject to abolition. Pechorsky became one of
the liquidated counties. Unlike the other two (Novorzhevsky and
Kholmsky), it was not restored by Alexander I's decree of April 24 (May
6), 1802, and Pechora remained a minor city. Moreover, most sources of
the XIX — early XX century do not call Pechora a city at all,
considering it only a suburb of Pskov. However, the simplified municipal
government in accordance with the "City Regulation" of 1892 in Pechora
still functioned.
On July 23 (August 4), 1889, proper traffic was
opened along the Pskov-Riga Railway, which passed a few kilometers north
of Pechora. Pechora Station (now Pechory-Pskovskie) was opened in 1899.
By the beginning of the XX century (1905), the area of the
residential territory of the city was 45 acres of 1540 square meters.
planted (49.87 ha). There were 11 streets and alleys in Pechory with a
total length of 1,605 fathoms (3.42 km) and 5 squares. The city was
almost exclusively wooden — out of 228 residential buildings there were
only 7 stone and 6 "semi-stone". The streets of Pechora were illuminated
by kerosene lanterns, of which there were 31 in the city. There was no
running water in the city, the water sources were wells and the
Pachkovka River.
There was only one industrial enterprise in the
city — a tannery, in addition, there were 115 artisans. There were 10
passenger cabs in Pechory, all of them were engaged in transporting
passengers between the city and the railway station. There was also a
postal and telegraph office in the city.
There was a 24-bed
zemstvo hospital in the city, the medical staff consisted of a doctor, a
midwife and one paramedic (by 1914, the number of paramedics had
increased to three and a paramedic station was opened). The Zemstvo
hospital, in addition to the city, also served the rural population of
Pechora, Sloboda and half of Panikovskaya volosts of Pskov county. In
addition to medical services, there was also a zemstvo veterinarian and
a district veterinary assistant in the city.
By 1914, two primary
ministerial schools were operating in Pechora from educational
institutions (a two-class one, transformed on September 27 (October 10)
1913 into a higher primary school, and a single-class one), a zemstvo
school and a parish school (at the monastery). Among the public
organizations in the city there were the Estonian musical and singing
society "Kalev" (founded on August 8 (21), 1907), the agricultural
society, the educational society (founded in 1912), the sobriety society
"Sower", the beekeeping society, the free fire society (organized on
August 8 (20), 1887 as fire brigade, society — since January 10 (23),
1911). There was also a mutual credit society in Pechora (the charter
was approved on July 25 (August 7), 1913).
During the First World War, the city was occupied by
German troops at the end of February 1918. After the withdrawal of the
Kaiser's army from the Baltic States, the Pechora became the object of a
struggle between the Red Army and the Estonian troops. On November 30,
1918, Soviet troops entered Pechora, abandoned by the Germans, but on
February 4, 1919, as a result of a counteroffensive, the Estonians (2nd
Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division) occupied the city. Then, on March
11, 1919, Pechora again came under the control of the 10th Infantry
Division of the Red Army, but not for long - on March 29, Estonian
troops re—captured the city and held it until the end of the war.
In 1920, in accordance with the terms of the Tartu Peace Treaty, the
city became part of Estonia and became the administrative center of
Petserimaa County (from the Estonian name of the city "Petseri" (est.
Petseri)). In the 1920s, both Russian and Estonian versions of the name
of the city were used equally in Estonia. In the 1930s, with the growth
of authoritarian and nationalist tendencies in the republic, the Russian
version was forced out of use - not only in official documents, but also
in the Russian—language press, only the Estonian oikonym "Petseri" was
allowed to be used. In 1935, the names of city streets were also
revised, and a number of Russian toponyms were replaced by Estonian
ones.
After the city's annexation to Estonia, the Russian "City
Regulation" began to be applied to Pechora in full (it was in effect in
Estonia until 1938). The city received a full—fledged system of local
self-government bodies - the City Duma and the city council elected by
it, headed by the mayor. The Duma consisted first of 17, then of 15
vowels and was elected by the residents of the city for a three-year
term. As a rule, the struggle between the Estonian and Russian
communities of the city unfolded in the Duma elections, each of which
put up one or more electoral lists for the elections. The success of the
elections was invariably accompanied by Estonians: as a rule, they made
up two thirds of the vowels. The town heads in the interwar period were
also exclusively Estonians.
During the Estonian period, the
city's territory expanded, reaching 2.49 km2 by the mid-1930s (including
a built—up area of 1.89 km2). The population of Pechora has grown 2.5
times since Estonian independence. In terms of growth rates, Pechora
occupied the second place in Estonia, second only to the Tallinn suburb
of Nimme. Demographic growth proceeded unevenly — the population of the
city grew steadily in the 1920s, but then it practically stabilized in
the conditions of the economic crisis. Growth resumed only in the second
half of the 1930s, with an improvement in the economic situation.
Despite the sharp increase in population, Pechora remained a small town
— in terms of population, they were only in 11th place in Estonia, and
of the county towns they surpassed only Paide and (slightly) Kuressaare.
According to the 1934 census, only 6.6% of the population of Petserimaa
lived in Pechora (the lowest figure among the counties of Estonia).
Russian Russians also became an important feature of the demographic
development of the pre-war Pechora. Significant Estonization of the
city's population, as a result of which the purely Russian city before
the revolution acquired a mixed Estonian-Russian national composition by
the mid-1930s, with a slight preponderance of the titular ethnic group.
In 1931, Pechora station became a railway hub — on July 28, the line
to Tartu came into operation. Thus, Pechora received the shortest
railway connection with the capital of the republic. In the 1920s, the
first cars appeared in Pechora, but their number did not exceed two
dozen until the end of the 1930s.
In the educational sphere, a
significant moment in the Estonian period of the history of Pechora was
the opening of the first secondary educational institution in the city
on January 24, 1919 — the Pechora Real Gymnasium (since 1923 — the
general humanitarian gymnasium). The Pechora Linguistic Gymnasium is
considered to be the successor of this educational institution today.
The gymnasium was organized on the basis of a higher primary school. The
gymnasium originally had two departments — Russian and Estonian. In
1937, as a result of the reform of the secondary school, only the
Estonian branch remained in the gymnasium. In an effort to preserve
Russian secondary education in Petserimaa, philanthropist B. B. Linde
opened a private gymnasium in the city in the same year, but it worked
only for one year. In August 1940, it was supposed to reopen the Russian
department at the Pechora Gymnasium, but due to political changes in
Estonia, these plans were not implemented. The primary education system
in Pechora in the interwar period was represented by two primary
schools. There was also one vocational school in the city. In addition,
in 1933, a theological seminary was opened in the monastery, which
produced three editions until 1940.
During the Estonian period,
Pechora began publishing its own newspapers, both in Russian and in
Estonian. However, due to the small number of readers, these
publications, as a rule, were not durable. The most famous Russian
newspaper Pecheryanin (it was also published in Estonian) was published
only for six months (from July 16 to December 10, 1920, a total of 39
issues were published). Of the Estonian newspapers, Petseri Uudised:
Petseri eestlaste häälekandja has become the most durable. This edition
was published from June 4, 1932 to December 31, 1937 (382 issues were
published).
The fact that the city belongs to the Republic of
Estonia had a favorable effect on the fate of the Pskov-Pechersk
Monastery, which was not closed, as happened in the 1920s—1930s with all
monasteries in the USSR. At the same time, as part of the Estonian
agrarian reform, most of the monastery's land holdings were confiscated
in May 1925. Only 16 tithes were left to the monastery directly under
the buildings and another 50 tithes outside the Caves. As a result, the
monastery was left practically without funds, and in the future could
exist mainly due to state support and private donations. In addition,
the abbot of the monastery, Bishop John (Bulin), came into conflict with
the leadership of the Estonian Orthodox Church and was removed from
office in 1932.
On May 24, 1939, a catastrophic fire occurred in
the city. Of the 650 city houses, 212 were destroyed by fire, and about
1.5 thousand people were left homeless. Some villages adjacent to
Pechora were also affected by the fire, where several dozen houses
burned down.
After Estonia joined the USSR in 1940, the city
initially remained within the administrative borders of the Estonian
SSR. On July 10, 1941, Pechora was occupied by Nazi Germany, and from
December 1941, as a district center, they were incorporated into the
General Commissariat of Estonia of the Reichskommissariat Ostland. The
city was liberated on August 11, 1944 by the troops of the 291st
Infantry Division of the 116th Rifle Corps of the 67th Army of the 3rd
Baltic Front during the Tartu operation.
According to the act of
the commission at the ChGK dated August 13, 1944, at the time of the
entry of the Red Army in Pechora, "there was absolutely no population" —
all of it was forcibly removed by the Germans.
By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR dated August 23, 1944, the Pechora Mountains were transferred
from the Estonian SSR to the RSFSR and included in the simultaneously
formed Pskov region.
By the decision of the Pskov Regional
Executive Committee No. 177 of April 28, 1976, the settlements of
Bogdanovka, Bolshaya Pachkovka and Mayskoye were included in the Pechora
city limits, by the decision of the Small Council of the Pskov Regional
Council No. 147 of August 18, 1993 — the settlements of Golovino,
Kunichina Gora, Malaya Pachkovka, Mylnikovo, Ragozino, Sakhalin, Sloboda
and the Pechora railway station -Pskov.
Since 2007, Pechora has
been excluded from the border zone and now travelers from Russia can
enter it freely.