CENTRE-VILLE

There's not much left of ^{pre-20th-century} Narva - it's all been destroyed. However, it is possible to admire one of the city's most imposing buildings that survived the war and is still intact. This is the Vasili Gerassimov House of Culture on Joala Street, unfortunately still abandoned.

The baroque town hall, built in 1688, was restored in 1960 and is considered by many writers to be typical of Swedish Narva. This is despite the fact that, according to its builder, Lübeck-born architect George Teuffel, it incorporates many architectural elements not only from Sweden, but also from Germany and even Italy. Unfortunately, only this building has survived, although it was part of a larger urban ensemble that included the stock exchange and the homes of the wealthiest people in the city and surrounding area. The other surviving building now houses the University of Tartu in Narva. Two other buildings also escaped serious damage during the war: the Orthodox Cathedral and the Lutheran Church. The foundations of the cathedral were laid in 1890 by Tsar Alexander III, and the work was carried out by the architect Pavel Alish, who is responsible for many buildings in Narva. A little further on, you can also visit the house of Baron Von Velio. Built in the early ^19th century in the neoclassical style, it was chosen to house a grammar school for boys.