Vyshgorodok
Vyshgorodok (; or "Augšpils") is a "selo" ("village") in Gavry volost, Pytalovsky District of Pskov Oblast, Russia, founded in the 15th century as a borderline fortress. History. Pskov Republic. During the 13th-15th century Pskov Republic was engaged in the bordeline conflicts with the Livonian Order, Archbishopric of Riga and the Great Duchy of Lithuania. One of these resulted from the Orderial claims for the territories west from the Krasny Gorodok. With the truce of 1476 Master of the Livonian Order Bernd von der Borch abandoned these claims. The inhabitants of the Kokshiono parish, however, requested the Veche (council) and the  Prince of Pskov to secure the border with military means to save them from Livonian raids. In 1476 a wooden fortress was founded on the river by two posadniks of Pskov - Alexey Vassilievich and Moisey Fyodorovich. Construction was completed in 1478. It had limestone basement, two wooden watchtowers and gates on the edges facing Pskov and Livonia. The Germans, in turn, maintained their bordeline castle of Marienhausen (now Viļaka) some 25 km. to the west (since 1294). In 1479 Livonian knights attacked Vyshgorodok burning down the fortress and the church there, and killing the villagers. The next year 1480 Livonians  repeated their raid. Pskov called Muscovy for help and in 1482 joint forces responded with intrusion into the Livonian lands. The fortress of Vyshgorodok was never restored, but the settlement developed and expanded into a town of Vyshgorodok, hosting the Pskovian garrison that watched after the border. The town was ruled by the vicegerent appointed from Pskov and was an administrative center of the county consisted of eight parishes: Borisoglebskaya, Grivskaya, Kokshinskaya, Lebetskaya, Korovskaya Ovsitskaya, Yolkinskaya and Kukhovskaya. Grand Duchy of Moscow, Tsardom of Russia, Russian Empire. In 1510 Pskov came under the rule of Muscovy. Part of its aristocracy  suspected for unloyalty was moved to Vyshgorodok. To watch after the border the town had to maintain a garrison of local militia on its own expense. In 1581 Polonian units led by King Stephen Báthory passed through Vyshdorodok to beseige Pskov. In the Late 17th century Vyshgorodok hosted two annual trade fairs. In 1690 the settlement suffered a fire which destroyed much of the housing along the Kovno road. In 1708 Vyshgorodok was listed in the newly established Saint Petersburg Governorate. In 1719 Vyshgorodok was transferred to the Pskov Governorate. Despite Vyshgorodoks name (literally - town on the hill), maps and  plans of the 18th century list Vyshgorodok as a village. In 1844 the first municipal school was opened in Vyshgorodok In 1897 another school opened by the church. In 1846 a hospital was founded by the Ministry of Interior. In 1860 the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway was built, passing 6km north-west of Vyshgorodok, there a station was built in the village of Pytalovo. As result, Pytalovo gradually became the principle settlement of the county, at the expense of Vyshgorodok. In 1911 a library run by the local teacher Olga Levkovich was opened. During World War I and the  Russian Civil War. After the Bolshevik Government failed to finalize the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers, the latter resumed their advance eastwards on Pskov and Petrograd, resulting in the village coming under German control. Shortly after the October Revolution, the Soviets seized control over most of the Pskovian municipalities, including Vyshgorodok. Peasants seized land plots from local landlords. In the autumn of 1918 Vyshgorodok was recaptured by the Red Army. In May 1919 Vyshgorodok appeared in the frontline of advancing pro-czarist Russian North-Western Army of Gen. Nikolai Yudenich supported by Estonian and Latvian republican units . The frontline as of noon 1 February 1920 was stipulated as the border demarcation line by the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty of 1920 between Latvian Republic and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, what left Vyshgorodok with Latvia. Latvian Republic and Latvian SSR. From 1920 to 1924 Vyshgorodok belonged to Ludza county. In 1925 it was renamed Augšpils (A translation in Latvian of the original name) and included in to Pytalovo (1925-1938 Jaunlatgale, 1938-1944 Abrene) county that also contained other territories of the Pskov Governorate annexed to Latvia by the Treaty of 1920. In 1927 the municipal school of  Vyshgorodok was reconstructed to accommodate two schools - for Russian and Latvian speakers. In 1940 Soviet Union annexed Latvian Republic and established Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) within its existing borders as of 1920, so Vyshgorodok belonged to the Soviet Latvia. From July 1941 till June 1944 Vyshgorodok appeared in the zone of Nazi occupation covered by the Reichskommissariat Ostland, Generalbezirk Lettland, Gebietskommissariat Dunaburg. Russian SFR and Russian Federation. In January 1945 the border between Russian SFR and Latvian SSR was redrawn to resemble the historical border between the imperial Governorates of Pskov and Livland. Vyshgorodok appeared in the Pytalovo district  of the Pskov oblast. The district of Pytalovo was briefly (1959-1965) discontinued, leaving Vyshgorodok with the district of Ostrov. Agrarian reform carried out during late 1940-ties - 1950-ties converted local private farming into a state-owned collective farm "sovkhoz Leninskiy" headquartered in Vyshgorodok. It leased the required machinery from the MTS in Pytalovo up to the 1960-ties, as MTS system was abandoned and machines were distributed among local collective farms. Soon after the USSR collapsed in 1991 the collective farm was privatized and later closed. Pustoshniki. During the second half of 19th - early 20th centuries western part  of the Pskov Governorate including Vyshgorodok experiences major inbound migration from the Baltic provinces, where the serfdom was abandoned half a century earlier than across the rest of Russia. Latvian and Estonian peasantry that had no means to buy enough land from their landlords were forced to seek cheaper options available right across the Eastern border of the Governorate of Livonia. According to the 1911 statistical reference book for the Ostrov county of the Pskov Governorate, Vysgorodok parish accommodated 1.8 thousand immigrants that either purchased (pustoshniki) or leased plots of land, 300 of whom were from Livonia and Estonia. Facilities  and transport. Now village hosts a School, a kindergarten, post office and a paramedical office. Vyshgorodok stands on the intersection of the road 58K-306 connecting Ostrov to the border with Latvia and roads to Pytalovo and Kokshino. Regular bus service to Ostrov, Pytalovo and Pskov is available. Boris and Gleb Church. Initially constructed in the 15th century it was destroyed by Livonian knights in 1479. In 1690 the Church was rebuilt as two adjacent loghouses. By the late 19th century it deteriorated and in 1891 new red brick church building was completed, having inherited the old altar. Funds to complete  the construction of the church were given by Ostrovian landlord Vladimir Izyetdinov, and later by the Rukavishnikov family. The church has survived throughout the period of Latvian governance and during the communist rule. .