VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Novgorod's Kremlin, also known as Detinets, is the religious, political and cultural centre of the land.
The Kremlin was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1044. Its surviving structures include the Palace of Facets (1433), the Cathedral of St Sophia (11th century), the Church of St Sergius of Radonezh (1463), John's compound (16th-19th centuries), the Bell Tower and the Leichoudes school of theology (17th century), the Church of St Andrew Stratelates (16th century), and the vestiges of the palace of Novgorodian archbishops and of the Voyevoda's Court (both monuments dating back to the 15th century).
The Monument to the Millennium of Russia was built inside the Kremlin to the designs of Mikhail Mikeshin in 1862.
The tomb by the Kremlin's western wall is a final resting place for soldiers who lost their lives in Russia's 1918 Civil War or fell while liberating the city from Nazi occupation in January 1944.
Archbishop's Palace
The Archbishop's Palace, known also as the Palace of Facets, is Russia's only surviving civilian structure built in the Late Gothic style. It was constructed in 1433 by local masters, in collaboration with German counterparts, as a centerpiece of the Archbishop's Court, in the northern part of the Kremlin.
In the 15th century, the palace was used as a venue for assemblies, functions and court hearings. This building played an important part in the life of Novgorod's parliamentary republic, and it was here that Tsar Ivan III read out his landmark decree on the annexation of the Novgorodian land to Muscovy.
The palace has been under renovation since 2006.
Kalika's Palace
In 2008, archaeological excavations south of the Archbishop's Palace uncovered the remnants of Russia's earliest civilian structure in stone, dating back to 1350. This building served as a residence for Archbishop Vasily Kalika. His ministry earned Kalika high moral authority with the Novgorodians and, in recognition of his noble service, they granted him the right to wear white-coloured priestly headgear.
The monument is remarkably well preserved: the walls of its basement have survived to the height of more than 250 centimetres; its arches have come down to us with fragments of vaults; vaults resting on the ground surface have also partially survived. The discovery of numerous fresco details during the works to remove deposits suggests that the walls of the building must have been decorated with mural paintings. A careful survey made it possible for archaeologists to establish the measurements of the palace, expose the walling down to the floor level, and determine the condition of constituent structures. Upon completion of the 2008-2009 surveying cycle, a makeshift marquee was built over the monument to protect it from exposure. Subsequently, the palace was listed as a newly discovered heritage site.
Cathedral of St Sophia
St Sophia's is Novgorod's largest cathedral, which was the nucleus of its religious and cultural life in the republican period. It is the city's first structure to have been built in stone, and also one of the earliest buildings in Kievan Rus.
Built in 1045-1050 on Prince Vladimir's commission, St. Sophia's became a religious, cultural and political centre of Novgorod. From the 11th century onward, it ran its own school and library and kept records of historic events. The Novgorodian republic's supreme legislative and judicial body, known as the veche, converged on the compound for its sessions. And it was here that many revered political and religious figures were buried.
St Sophia's was built to a Greek cross design. Particularly imposing is its western entrance, decorated with bronze Magdeburg (Sigtuna) gates - a war trophy gained by the Novgorodians during their 1187 battle for the Swedish fortress of Sigtuna.
The walls of St Sophia's carry details of frescoes surviving from the 12th century, as well as numerous autographs left by visitors since that time. The cathedral's collection of icons, datable in the 12th-17th centuries, is of great historical value.
Religious services at St Sophia's were suspended in 1926 and from then through the beginning of WWII, it housed a museum of atheism. In 1991, the cathedral was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church to be again used as a house of worship.
