Editing Gdov (section)

==History==
It was first mentioned in the beginning of the 14th century, as an outpost guarding the city of [[Pskov]].<ref name="gr">{{cite book|title=Энциклопедия Города России|year=2003|publisher=Большая Российская Энциклопедия|location=Moscow|isbn=5-7107-7399-9|pages=105–106}}</ref> Between 1431 and 1434, Pskovians built a [[Gdov Kremlin|fortress]] there,<ref name="gr" /> the remains of which can still be seen. It was attacked on numerous occasions by the [[Sweden|Swedes]] and the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]]<ref name="gr" /> (e.g., during the [[Russo–Swedish War (1590–1595)]] and the [[Ingrian War]]), and captured by the Swedes in 1614, but was finally returned to Russia in 1617 according to the [[Treaty of Stolbovo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article106520.html|script-title=ru:Столбовский мир 1617|publisher=[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]|language=ru|access-date=19 June 2020}}</ref>

In the course of the [[administrative divisions of Russia in 1708–1710|administrative reform]] carried out in 1708 by [[Peter the Great]], Gdov was made a part of Ingermanland Governorate (known since 1710 as [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]]).<ref name="1708List">[http://constitution.garant.ru/history/act1600-1918/2005/ Указ об учреждении губерний и о росписании к ним городов] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> Gdov was mentioned as one of the towns into which the governorate was divided.<ref name="1708List" /> In 1780, Gdov was granted town status;<ref name="BSE">{{cite web|url=http://bse.sci-lib.com/article008938.html|title=Гдов (Gdov)|publisher=[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]]|language=ru}}</ref> its [[coat of arms]] was granted on May&nbsp;28, 1781.<ref name="gr" /> Between 1874 and 1912, Gdov issued [[Zemstvo stamp]]s. The first stamp, worth two [[Russian ruble|kopeck]]s, appeared on April&nbsp;16, 1874. Stamp production ceased, however, with the coming of [[World War I]]. In 1919, Gdov was an area where important events of the [[Russian Civil War]] and the [[Estonian War of Independence]] took place. Originally, the area east of [[Lake Peipus]] was under control of the revolutionary government. On May&nbsp;15, 1919, the detachment under command of [[Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz]] (subordinate to General [[Aleksandr Rodzyanko]]) captured Gdov and the whole ''[[uyezd]]'' thus came under control by the White Army troops of [[Nikolai Yudenich]]. In November 1919, the [[Red Army]] recaptured Gdov.<ref name="SovRos">{{cite web|url=http://bibliotekar.ru/sovetskaya-rossiya/21.htm|script-title=ru:История Советской России|last=Ратьковский|first=И.С.|author2=Ходяков М. В.|year=2001|publisher=Лань|language=ru|access-date=June 23, 2014}}</ref>

On August&nbsp;1, 1927, the ''uyezds'' and governorates were abolished and Gdovsky District, with the [[administrative center]] in Gdov, was established as a part of [[Luga Okrug]] of [[Leningrad Oblast]].<ref name="PskovO1988">''Administrative-Territorial Structure of Pskov Oblast'', pp.&nbsp;11–13</ref><ref name="GdovskyDHist">{{cite web|url=http://classif.spb.ru/sprav/np_lo/44_Gdovsky_rayon.htm|script-title=ru:Гдовский район (август 1927 г. - август 1944 г.)|publisher=Справочник истории административно-территориального деления Ленинградской области|language=ru|access-date=June 23, 2014|archive-date=October 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192220/http://classif.spb.ru/sprav/np_lo/44_Gdovsky_rayon.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It included parts of former Gdovsky Uyezd.<ref name="GdovskyDHist" /> On July&nbsp;23, 1930, the [[Okrug|''okrugs'']] were also abolished and the districts were directly subordinated to the [[oblast]].<ref name="PskovO1988" /> Between March&nbsp;22, 1935 and September&nbsp;19, 1940, Gdovsky District was part of the restored [[Pskov Okrug]] of Leningrad Oblast,<ref name="PskovO1988" /> one of the ''okrugs'' abutting the state boundaries of the Soviet Union.

Between July&nbsp;19, 1941 and February&nbsp;4, 1944, Gdov was occupied by [[Nazi Germany|German]] troops and [[Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts|Waffen SS]] units from occupied [[Estonia]]. During the war two-thirds of Gdov's population died. The town was seriously damaged during the war; of 640 buildings that existed in 1941, all but 34 were destroyed. Most of the devastation occurred just before the Nazi retreat on January 28, 1944, when the 37th Estonian Police Battalion, part of the [[20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)|20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chuev, Sergeĭ Gennadʹevich.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56389355|title=Проклятые солдаты|date=2004|publisher=Яуза|isbn=5-699-05970-9|location=Moskva|trans-title=The Damned Soldiers: Traitors Serving the Third Reich|oclc=56389355}}</ref> set wooden buildings on fire and used explosives on stone structures. Among the destroyed historical buildings was the unique ensemble of two 15th and 16th-century churches that survived the Bolshevik anti-religion campaigns.<ref name="Зотов">{{Cite web|last=Зотов|first=Георгий|date=2020-07-01|title=Город мертвых церквей. Это забытое преступление – одно из тысяч в России|url=https://aif.ru/society/75_victory/gorod_mertvyh_cerkvey_eto_zabytoe_prestuplenie_odno_iz_tysyach_v_rossii|access-date=2020-10-09|website=aif.ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Вперед, за Ленинград! Как освободили от фашистов Гдов|url=https://histrf.ru/biblioteka/b/vpieried-za-lieninghrad-kak-osvobodili-ot-fashistov-gdov|access-date=2020-10-09|website=histrf.ru|language=ru}}</ref>

On August&nbsp;23, 1944, the district was transferred to the newly established Pskov Oblast.<ref name="GdovskyDHist" /> The town was reconstructed during the 1950s and 1960s and continued to expand until the economic and demographic collapse of the early 1990s. In 1993 an exact copy of St. Dmitry Solounskiy church was built at its original location at the [[Gdov Kremlin]], financed exclusively by crowdfunding.<ref name="Зотов"/>