(Source: http://images.esosedi.ru/vecherniy_vokzal)

The town of Dno located 113 km away from Pskov is a small provincial town turned into an important junction station with a rich history. And it is very interesting to visit it. The name of the town is derived from the two villages — Dno Bolshoe (“Big bottom) and Dontse Menshoe (“Small bottom”) which were first mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle at the beginning of XV century.

The presence of ancient burial mounds suggests that people lived here at least a thousand years ago. All known burial mounds of Finnish and Slavic tribes are located on the banks of three rivers: Lyuta, Zerema and Sukhareva, Polonka, near the village of Chernobozhye and Belka. The town of Dno passed from hand to hand during its existence more than once - it was a part of Novgorod land, belonged to Moscow Principality.

When Dno and the surrounding area belonged to Novgorod, many villages belonged to monasteries: about 10 villages was attributed to Novgorod Yuryev Monastery, and the villages of Dno Bolshoe (“Big bottom) and Dontse Menshoe (“Small bottom”) – to Kozmodamiansky Monastery. According to the documents, in XVI century the town of Dno belonged to the major landowner Afanasii Belsky, a relative of Malyuta Skuratov.

The town was mentioned in many documents under the name of Donshchina in XVIII century. In 1893 the construction of the railway Bologoe-Pskov started, and the town of Dno became one of the 16 stations of Moscow-Vindalovskaya Railway. At the beginning of the 20th century Dno became a railway junction. During the February revolution of 1917 railway workers detained the train of the Emperor Nikolai II that was heading to Petrograd at Dno station by the Order by the Petrograd Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. The train was redirected to Pskov, where the Tsar abdicated from the throne at a railway station in the train carriage.