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Coordinates: 59°59′N 32°18′E / 59.983, 32.3

The fortress of Ladoga was built in stone in the 12th century and rebuilt 400 years later

Staraya Ladoga (Russian: Ста́рая Ла́дога), or Aldeigjuborg of Norse sagas, is a village (selo) in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga. The village used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. A multi-ethnic settlement, it was dominated by Scandinavians who were called by the name of Rus and for that reason is sometimes called the first capital of Russia.

Dendrochronology suggests that Ladoga was founded in 753. Until 950, it was one of the most important trading ports of Eastern Europe. Merchant vessels sailed from the Baltic Sea through Ladoga to Novgorod and then to Constantinople or the Caspian Sea. This route is known as the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks. An alternative way led down the Volga River along the Volga trade route to the Khazar capital of Atil, and then to the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, all the way to Baghdad. Tellingly, the oldest Arabian Middle Age coin in Europe was unearthed in Ladoga.

Old Ladoga's inhabitants were Norsemen, Finns, and Slavs, hence different names for the city. The original Finnish name, Alode-joki (i.e., "lowland river"), was rendered as Aldeigja in Norse language and as Ladoga (Ладога) in Old East Slavic.

St. George's church contains magnificent frescoes painted in 1167

According to the Hypatian Codex, in 862 the legendary Varangian leader Rurik arrived to Ladoga and made it his capital. Rurik's successors later moved to Novgorod and then to Kiev, thus laying foundations for the powerful state of Kievan Rus. There are several huge kurgans, or royal funerary barrows, at the outskirts of Ladoga. One of them is said to be Rurik's grave, and another one—that of his successor Oleg. The Heimskringla and other Norse sources mention that in the late 990s Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway raided the coast and set the town ablaze. Ladoga was the most important trading center in Eastern Europe from about 800 to 900 CE, and it is estimated that between 90 to 95% of all Arab dirhams found in Sweden passed through Ladoga.

Ladoga's next mention in chronicles is dated to 1019, when Ingigerd of Sweden married Yaroslav of Novgorod. Under the terms of their marriage settlement, Yaroslav ceded Ladoga to his wife, who appointed her father's cousin, the Swedish earl Ragnvald Ulfsson, to rule the town. This information is confirmed by sagas and archaeological evidence, which suggests that Ladoga gradually evolved into a primarily Varangian settlement. At least two Swedish kings spent their youths in Ladoga, king Stenkil and Inge I, and possibly also king Anund Gårdske.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Ladoga functioned as a vital trade outpost of the powerful Novgorod Republic. The Novgorodians built there a citadel with five towers and several churches. The fortress was rebuilt at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, while the mid-12th-century churches of St. George and of Mary's Assumption stand in all their original glory. Inside St. George's, some magnificent 12th-century frescoes are still visible.

View of Novaya Ladoga in 1911

In 1703, Peter the Great founded the town of Novaya Ladoga (New Ladoga) closer to the bank of Lake Ladoga. The ancient fortress thenceforth declined and came to be known as Old Ladoga, in order to distinguish it from the new town.

The heart of Staraya Ladoga is an old fortress where the Yelena River flows into the Volkhov River. In earlier times, it was a strategic site because it was the only possible harbour for sea-vessels that could not navigate through the Volkhov River.

Apart from the churches mentioned above, there is a mid-12th century church of St. Climent, which stands in ruins. There is also a monastery, dedicated to St. Nicholas and constructed mainly in the 17th century.

• Mounds in Staraya Ladoga. The shot was taken during the 1,250th anniversary celebration, so people are in historical clothes.

• History of Old Ladoga
• About Old Ladoga
• Detailed info on the fortress
• (Russian) Old Ladoga Museum

v • d • e Garðaríki
Names in italics are settlements whose Norse names are not recorded
Volkhov-Volga trade route	Lyubsha · Aldeigja · Álaborg · Duboviki · Hólmgarðr · Sarskoe · Timerevo · Balymer
Dvina-Dnieper trade route	Pallteskja · Gnezdovo · Chernigov · Kænugarðr
Other locations	Bjarmaland · Khortitsa · White Shores · Miklagarðr · Særkland
Varangians · Rus' · Slavs · Merya · Bulgars · Khazars

v • d • e Fortresses of Western Russia
Gdov • Ivangorod • Izborsk • Kirillov • Koporye • Korela • Kronstadt • Ladoga • New Dvina Fort • Novgorod • Oreshek • Porkhov • Pskov • Smolensk • Solovki • St Petersburg • Trångsund • Vyborg • Yamburg

v • d • e Trade emporia of the Viking Age
Dorestad • Kaupang • Lindholm • Hedeby • Ribe • Birka • Sigtuna • Köpingsvik Reric • Arkona • Menzlin • Ralswiek • Wolin • Truso • Kaup • Grobin Vanaja • Aldeigja • Alaborg • Hólmgard • Gnezdovo • Sarskoe • Timerevo