Tver is over 800 years old. Its rich history dates back to Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, who built a fortress at the mouth of the T'maka River in 1182. The famous Prince Mikhail of Tver (1271-1317) played a significant role in the unification of Rus' against the Mongol-Tatars. Tver used to be the capital of an unruly mini-state that was Moscow’s chief rival in the 14th and 15th centuries.

As Tver was quickly developing, it was often attacked by Tatar-Mongols. Besides, Muscovites who fought against Tver for the right to be the greatest city in Russia also presented a great threat to Tver.

The image of modern Tver comes from Catherine the Great’s times and is connected with the name of the famous Italian architect Rostrelli, who incorporated many of his ideas for the construction of St. Petersburg in rebuilding the city after the disastrous fire of 1763. Tver's clear and rational layout is a unique example of 18th century architecture and city planning.

By the end of that year the project of reconstruction of the city was adopted. Some young Russian architects, who became famous later, such as P.Nikitin, M.Kazakov and V.Obukhov designed many buildings.

Called Kalinin from 1931 to 1990, after Mikhail Kalinin, the president of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946, it was renamed to the pre-Revolutionary Tver.