History of Russia: New section marking the 1150th anniversary of Izborsk foundation on the website of Pskov Regional Library

On the website of the Pskov Provincial Universal Scientific Library has opened a new section covering the 1150th anniversary of Izborsk foundation to be celebrated in 2012.

The section provides information on the history of Izborsk, literature about this historical site of Pskov Oblast, photo gallery from the personal archive of T. G. Ledinina, an employee of the Local History Literature Division of the Library.

The most interesting are the documents from the Library holdings which are listed in bibliographic list. The full texts of the some documents are available via the “Pskoviana” electronic library on the Provincial Scientific Library website. Among these, for example, are the works by Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov “On the initial settlement of Slaves in Izborsk principality”, “Pskov sovereign princes”, etc.

Izborsk is one of the ancient Russian towns. According to researchers, it was founded at the age of unification of Slavic tribes and establishment of early feudal Old Russian state. It was one of the fortifications founded by Krivichi along with Smolensk and Polotsk. According to legend, it was originally called Slovensk (after his founder Sloven, the son of Gostomysl) and was later renamed into Izborsk (in honor of Izbor, Sloven’s son). The town was firstly mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, created in the early 12th century, in a story about calling to Russia of three Varangian princes dating to the year of 862.