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Novgorod is 180 kilometers South of St. Petersburg – a three hour drive by car. One of the oldest cities in Russia, Novgorod was founded almost 1, 200 years ago by a Varyagian (Viking) leader Rurik on the shores of Illmen Lake, and in Russian means “ New Town.” By 977 AD, Novgorod had gained its independence from the then-dominant Russian (Rus) government based in Kiev. During the 11th and 12th centuries the town prospered when it served as a major hub between the Baltic and the Black Sea trading routes. With 30, 000 inhabitants in that period, the city was considered one of the centers of culture and education in Eastern Europe and became known as Novgorod the Great (Velikii Novgorod). A century later, while other areas of the country were sacked by the invading Tatar hordes, this region escaped severe Mongol occupation. In 1240, a Prince of Novgorod named Alexander Nevsky gained fame by fending off the attacking Swedes.
The 12th to 15th centuries are considered Novgorod’s Golden Age, when wealthy nobles and merchants built over 200 churches. Even though the city remained a center for trade and religion well into the 16th century, it eventually lost its independence to Moscow when Ivan the Terrible’s troops occupied the city in 1478. Later, when Novgorod questioned Moscow’s rule, it is said that Ivan the Terrible built a wall around the town, preventing anyone from leaving. When the population still refused his rule, he had thousands of people tortured and killed in front of him.
Novgorod is a beautiful example of an old Russian town with much of its medieval art and ancient architecture preserved (over 50 such churches and monasteries remain, with icons, frescoes and mosaics).
During the tour you will see the Kremlin and fortress — the rulers once governed from within these walls. The most famous structure within the Kremlin is five-domed Cathedral of St Sophia (built in 1045–50). The structure’s enclosed galleries, chapels, and iconostasis were originally decorated with icons and frescoes by artists brought in from as far away as Constantinople. In the center of the Kremlin stands the Millennium Memorial, erected in 1862 to commemorate the 1, 000th anniversary of Russia.
About two miles South there is the Open Air Museum Park of Wooden Architecture. Here there is a collection of old wooden buildings and log architecture -churches, windmills, izba cottages dating from the 16th to 19th centuries. Not too much further is the Yuriev Monastery ensemble, commissioned in 1119 by Prince Vsevolod.
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