What to See in Novgorod - Top Sights and Attractions

Church in Russia. The Saviour Church on Nereditsa Hill near Novgorod is a 12th-century Orthodox church dedicated to the feast of the Saviour's Transfiguration.

The church, consecrated in 1198, became world-famous both for its remarkable state of exterior preservation and for the best preserved set of pre-Mongol wall paintings in the Russian Empire. During the World War II it was selected as a target for artillery fire and was reduced to rubble.

The post-war reconstruction of the Nereditsa Church is on the World Heritage list as a part of object 604 Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. The building has been designated an architectural monument of federal significance (#5310113002).

It is located in Novgorodsky District of Novgorod Oblast, Russia, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Veliky Novgorod in the village of Spas-Nereditsy on the right bank of the Maly Volkhovets River on a small Nereditsa Hill next to the Rurik hillfort.^[5]

Tourist attraction in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. Yaroslav's Court was the princely compound in the city of Novgorod the Great. Today it is roughly the area around the Trade Mart, the St. Nicholas Cathedral, the Church of St. Procopius, and the Church of the Myrrh-bearing Women. The Trade Mart renovated and heavily modified in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, is all that is left of the princely palace itself. The prince also had a compound called the Riurik's Court south of the marketside of the city.

Yaroslav's Court is named after Yaroslav the Wise who, while prince of Novgorod in 988–1015, built a palace there. The Novgorodian veche often met in front of Yaroslav's Court and in 1224 several pagan sorcerers were burned at the stake there.

According to the traditional scholarship, after the Novgorodians evicted Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich in 1136, Novgorod began electing their princes and forbade them from holding land in Novgorod. Yaroslav's Court then ceased to be a princely compound and the prince resided at Riurik's Court. Between 1113 and 1136, the Saint Nicholas Cathedral was built at the court. The cathedral is intact and is the second oldest building in Novgorod after the Saint Sophia Cathedral.^[10]

Monastery. The Antoniev Monastery rivalled the Yuriev Monastery as the most important monastery of medieval Novgorod the Great. It stands along the right bank of the Volkhov River north of the city centre and forms part of the Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings, a World Heritage Site.

The monastery was founded in 1117 by St Anthony of Rome, who, according to legend, flew to Novgorod from Rome on a rock. Antonii was consecrated hegumen of the monastery in 1131 by Archbishop Nifont and was buried beneath a large slab to the right of the altar in the same church.

The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, like the Church of St. George in the Yuriev Monastery, is one of the few three-domed churches in Russia. It is also one of the few buildings in Russia which survived from the 12th century. It was founded by Antonii in 1117 and completed in 1119. There are some frescoes from the Middle Ages still extant, most notably in the apse, but most are from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries and are in some disrepair.

The monastery is currently part of the Novgorod United Museum-Preserve and has not been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.^[11]

Monastery in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. The Desyatinny Monastery is an inactive monastery or convent in Veliky Novgorod, one of eight ancient monasteries of Novgorod Republic.

The Desyatinny Monastery now has a regular square-shaped perimeter. The monastery's complex was developed over a lengthy period and now includes objects constructed in periods from the 14th to the 20th centuries. It was finally completed at the beginning of the 20th century but was closed in 1918 by the Soviet government. Some buildings, including both churches and part of the monastery wall, were lost in the 20th century during World War II and the anti-religious campaign, with the result that the monastery is preserved fragmentarily.

Never considered particularly important, it was subjected to rebuilding many times. Built to symbolize and immortalize the miracle of historical significance for the Novgorod Republic, until the present day, the monastery in fact has undertaken certain social functions affecting Novgorodian society. Its history is a story of ups and downs, of ruin and reconstruction. Almost nothing in the present monastery's exterior suggests how ancient the monastery really is.^[13]

Monastery in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. The Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos on Peryn in the environs of Veliky Novgorod is one of the city's oldest churches, dating from the 1220s. The church is located 6 kilometres from Veliky Novgorod, by the source of the Volkhov River where it flows out of Lake Ilmen. The church is a part of the Peryn Skete, a former monastery abolished in the 18th century, and is the only functioning church in the complex.

The Peryn Chapel is on the World Heritage list as a part of object 604 Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. The building has been designated an architectural monument of federal significance.

Presumably, the church was built on a site previously consecrated to the pagan god Perun, hence the name. The first church on the site was built in 991. Later, it became a part of a monastery. The current church was built in the 1220s. It was fully restored after World War II and returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990s.

The church is built of flat bricks and stone. It has a foundation in the shape of a square. The church has four internal pillars and one dome. It is notable in particular for its small size, measuring only 8 metres in both length and width.^[18]

Church in Russia. Saint Nicholas Church on Lipno Island is a late 13th-century Russian Orthodox church sitting on a small island in the delta of the Msta River, 9 km south of Novgorod. Its design harks back to the Nativity Church on Peryn Island.

The main altar is consecrated in the name of Saint Nicholas. A huge icon of this saint (184 cm in height) was painted for the church by Aleksa Petrov in 1294. The fact was notable enough to be mentioned in the Third Novgorod chronicle. This painting — among the most famous of all Russian icons — is now exhibited at the Novgorod Kremlin museum.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Lipno church had no parishioners and was almost deserted. After the Bolshevik revolution its belfry was pulled down. A set of 13th century frescoes was discovered under a layer of plaster in 1930. Despite its remote location, the building sustained heavy damage during the World War II, so that about 35% of medieval masonry had to be replaced.

On 6 January 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a Christmas eve service at the church. It is part of the Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings, a World Heritage Site inscribed in 1992.^[19]