Vasknarva Neuschloss

Order Master Goswin von Herike founded the castle in 1349 at the head of the Narva River to watch the waterways of Lake Peipus and the Narva, but men from Pskov destroyed it that same year. It was rebuilt in 1427–1442 as a three-story limestone house-castle with walls 2.6–3.6 meters thick, later ringed by a wall with round towers. Russian troops took it in 1558 and the Swedes in 1581; by the end of the 1600s it lay abandoned.

Built / first recorded

1427–1442

Style

Late Gothic castellum

Condition

Abandoned by 1700

County

Ida-Viru County · Alutaguse

German name

Neuschloss

Owners

• Liivi ordu1349–1558
• Moskva tsaaririik1558–1581
• Rootsi1581–17. saj

Good to know

• The house-castle was 23 m long, 15 m wide and 12 m high.
• Its Low German name, Nyslot, means “new castle.”
• In the winter of 1581 Pontus De la Gardie crossed the frozen Gulf of Finland and took Vasknarva too.

Photos through time

Nearby