Staraya Ladoga: The First Capital of Rus

11 points5 km2.5 hours

An ancient capital and an important town until the 18th century. Gradually Staraya Ladoga lost its status and became a village, an open-air monument to history. An ancient fortress and monasteries of the 12th–16th centuries survive here. They stand along the left bank of the Volkhov River, and the best views of them open from the right bank. The route was designed especially for the BelkaCar car-sharing service.

Route author

Susanin Team

Things to do

📜 Learn the city's history
🏛️🕰️ Compare the eras
🏰🕵️‍♂️ Discover a legend

Route points (11)

Schwartz House in Staraya Ladoga

Point on route “Staraya Ladoga: The First Capital of Rus”

Point 8

Schwartz House

🕵️ Urban legend

Historical Background

The estate's history goes back to the age of Catherine the Great, when the nobleman A. P. Melgunov gave the former northern lands of the Holy Dormition Convent to his daughter Varvara Andreevna and her husband, Alexei Romanovich Tomilov. In the 19th century the Tomilov and Schwartz families became related by marriage, and in the first quarter of the century the family rebuilt the manor house, adding a two-story brick wing. After the October Revolution the house was confiscated from the Schwartz family, and from 1918 to 1937 it housed a shelter for the poor of Staraya Ladoga and later a preschool orphanage. In 1937–1939 the Schwartz House was converted into an isolation prison, after which the building was returned to the orphanage. When the war began, all the orphanages of Staraya Ladoga were evacuated to the Volga region until 1944. The orphanage remained in the Schwartz House until 1969, when the building was handed over to the Staraya Ladoga village school. In 1979 the Executive Committee of the Leningrad Regional Council of Deputies transferred the estate to the museum-reserve, to which it still belongs.