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Veliky Novgorod is one of the oldest cities in Russia, on the Volkhov River near Lake Ilmen in northwest Russia, famous for its medieval churches and its past as the capital of the Novgorod Republic. Its top sights are the Kremlin, St Sophia Cathedral, Yaroslav's Court, the Yuriev Monastery and Vitoslavlitsy.
First mentioned in the 9th century, Novgorod was the centre of the Novgorod Republic from 1136 to 1478 and traded with the Hanseatic League, whose trading post in the city was known as the Peterhof. Around 1,000 birch bark letters from the 11th to 15th centuries have been dug up in the city.
The city was badly damaged in World War II and later rebuilt, and UNESCO listed its historic monuments as a World Heritage Site in 1992. Veliky Novgorod has 224,286 residents and lies on the M10 highway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, which is about 190 km away.
The Novgorod Kremlin, or Detinets, is the fortified heart of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, on the left bank of the Volkhov River. Its walls were rebuilt in stone by the 1430s and again under Ivan III in 1484 to 1490, forming an oval 565 m long and 220 m wide with walls 1,487 m around.
St Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod, Russia, stands in the Kremlin and is the cathedral of the Metropolitan of Novgorod. The 38 m high, five-domed stone church was built by Vladimir of Novgorod in 1045 to 1050, and it is one of the oldest buildings still in use in Russia.
The Millennium of Russia Monument is a bronze monument in the Kremlin of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, erected in 1862 for the thousandth year since Rurik came to Novgorod. Designed by Mikhail Mikeshin as a huge orb on a bell-shaped base, it carries 128 figures and weighs 100 tonnes.
The Palace of Facets, or Vladychnaya Chamber, is a brick Gothic hall in the Kremlin of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, built in 1433 for Archbishop Euthymius with German masters. It hosted the court and the council of nobles of the Novgorod Republic and now shows the museum's decorative arts.
St Nicholas Cathedral is the main church of Yaroslav's Court on the Trade Side of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, founded by Prince Mstislav the Great in 1113 and consecrated in 1136. It is one of the oldest churches in the city, and the veche assembly met before one of its doors.
St Paraskeva Church is a church at Yaroslav's Court on the Trade Side of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, and was the patron church of the city's merchants. Overseas traders finished the stone church in 1207, and after a restoration of almost 50 years it holds a museum of Novgorod architecture.
The Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyina Street is a church on the Trade Side of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, built in 1374 and painted in 1378 by Theophanes the Greek. It is the only church where his frescoes survive, among them the figure of Christ Pantocrator in the dome.
St Theodore Stratelates Church on the Brook is a church on the Trade Side of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, built in 1360 to 1361 by order of the posadnik Semyon Andreyevich. A classic work of Novgorod architecture with 14th-century frescoes, it is now part of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve.
Yuriev Monastery is a monastery 5 km south of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, on the left bank of the Volkhov near Lake Ilmen, usually cited as the oldest in Russia. By legend Yaroslav the Wise founded it around 1030, and its three-domed St George Cathedral was begun in 1119.
Vitoslavlitsy is the open-air museum of wooden folk architecture of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, by the Yuriev Monastery on the south shore of Lake Myachino. Founded in 1964 and opened in 1967, its park of about 50 ha holds wooden churches, houses and mills brought from across the region.
The Church of the Saviour on Nereditsa is a single-domed church 1.5 km south of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, by the Rurik hillfort. Built in 1198 by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich, it was famed for its frescoes of 1199, and after it was destroyed in World War II it was rebuilt.
Antoniev Monastery is a monastery on the right bank of the Volkhov north of the centre of Veliky Novgorod, Russia, founded in 1117 by St Anthony of Rome. Its Nativity Cathedral was built in 1117 to 1119 and has three domes, and in 1740 the Novgorod Theological Seminary was founded here.
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