[9] The town is 120 meters (390 ft) above sea level, situated approximately 125 kilometers (78 mi) north of Moscow, on the Volga River, just downstream from the Ivankovo Reservoir.

[citation needed] Fortress Dubna (Russian: Дубна) belonging to Rostov-Suzdal Principality was built in the area in 1132 by the order of Yuri Dolgoruki and existed until 1216.

The village of Gorodishche (Городище) was located on the right bank of the Volga River and was a part of the Kashin Principality.

Dubna customs post (Дубненское мыто) was located in the area and was a part of the Principality of Tver.

An impractical place where the current town is situated was chosen due to remoteness from Moscow and the presence of the Ivankovo power plant nearby.

The general supervisor of the project including construction of a settlement, a road and a railway connecting it to Moscow (largely involving penal labour of Gulag inmates) was the NKVD chief Lavrentiy Beria.

The town of Dubna was officially inaugurated in 1956, together with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), which has developed into a large international research laboratory involved mainly in particle physics, heavy ion physics, synthesis of transuranium elements, and radiobiology.

Outstanding physicists of the 20th century including Nikolay Bogolyubov, Georgy Flyorov, Vladimir Veksler, and Bruno Pontecorvo used to work at the institute.

Plans by AFK Sistema and other investors including government structures have been announced to build a Russian analogue of Silicon Valley in Dubna.

[citation needed] One of the world's tallest statues of Vladimir Lenin, 25 meters (82 ft) high, built in 1937, is located at Dubna at the confluence of the Volga River and the Moscow Canal.