93HQ+8X Glass, Leningrad Oblast, Russia
On February 23, 1617, in the village of Stolbovo near Tikhvin, a long-awaited peace treaty was signed between Russia and Sweden. According to its terms, the Swedes returned to Russia the occupied Novgorod and most of its lands, but retained the Karelian Isthmus and the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland with the fortresses of Yam, Koporye, Oreshek, and Ivangorod, which would henceforth be called Ingria. In addition, the Russian government was obliged to pay a contribution of 20,000 rubles in silver, and Swedish merchants were guaranteed trade privileges in Russia.
Thus, the intentions of the Swedish King Johan III, who back in 1580 launched the “great eastern program,” were realized: Russia found itself cut off from the Baltic, and the Stolbovo “peace of compulsion” sealed its isolation from Northern and Western Europe for 85 years. However, Russian nobles and townspeople had the opportunity to leave the lands ceded to Sweden within two weeks and move to Russia, while peasants and the white clergy were obliged to stay. And so that “no unrest or quarrels would arise” in the future, it was agreed that around June 1, 1617, on the bridge at the mouth of the Lava River flowing into Lake Ladoga, “three good men” from each side should meet to mark the border line: “…from there to begin demarcating and placing boundaries between His Royal Majesty’s and the Tsar’s Majesty’s lands, so that the districts of Oreshek, Koporye, Yam, and Ivangorod, which were separated, would be clearly and directly demarcated and separated from the Ladoga and Novgorod districts, from the Somer parish and Gdov district.”
To clarify immediately, the border line was marked by a clearing two fathoms wide (about 4 meters), with the outermost trees notched, and at notable points contained three types of border markers: trimmed trees, trimmed stones, and finally, deep pits filled with charcoal. The boundary signs were: on the Swedish side – one or three crowns, on the Russian side – an Orthodox cross. “And the boundary went between those parishes to the Oredezh River, to the wasteland to the great fields, eight versts, and there on the bank of the Oredezh River a pine tree was trimmed, and on the pine was a boundary mark, a cross and a crown, and nearby on the field a stone, and on that stone a boundary mark, a cross and a crown, and through the stone a belt, and the Oredezh River flowed entirely towards Novgorod...”
One of these cross stones is a huge boulder lying in the remote Karelian swampy forests on a small hill. It is called the “Cross Stone” because it bears two crosses carved into it with a gap of more than two hundred years between them. This boulder marks the border dividing the possessions of the Novgorod Republic and Sweden in 1323 and the border between Sweden and Russia in 1595. It is possibly one of the oldest surviving border markers.
According to the Oreshek and Teusina peace treaties, the border between the two states ran precisely through these places. The crosses have survived to this day and can be easily distinguished, despite the stone having slightly crumbled and been covered with moss over such a long time. In 2000, a commemorative plaque was installed here through the efforts of the historical and local lore society “Karelia.”
Sources:
http://history-gatchina.ru/article/swed.htm
https://pureportal.spbu.ru/files/73747771/Shmelev_04.pdf
