Staraya Russa

Staraya Russa is a town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Thought to have originated in the mid-10th century, it became first mentioned as Rusa in chronicles for the year 1167 as one among three fundamental cities of the Novgorod Republic, along Pskov and Ladoga. After Pskov became impartial, Russa became the second maximum vital metropolis and exchange center of the Novgorod Republic after Novgorod itself.

By the end of the 15th century, it contained about 1000 homesteads. Brine springs made the saltworks the primary commercial enterprise activity inside the town, which changed into the most important center of salt enterprise within the Novgorod area. Catherine II appointed German mineralogy professional Franz Ludwig von Cancrin as director of the salt-works in 1783. The timber fortifications of Russa burned to ashes in 1190 after which in 1194, and then they have been replaced by means of the stone citadel.

In 1478, it changed into integrated into the Grand Duchy of Moscow together with Novgorod. The word Staraya become prefixed to the name in the 15th century, to distinguish it from more recent settlements called Russa. Nevertheless, the modern-day call firmly installed most effective in the nineteenth century, while the salt mining settlements across the metropolis have become together referred to as Novaya Russa.