055 RUSSIA - Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings (WHS)

The historic monuments of Novgorod conclude the Kremlin and also the town of Veliky Novgorod. Veliky Novgorod is one of the most important historic cities in Russia which serves as the administrative center of Novgorod Oblast. Novgorod is among the oldest cities of Russia, founded in the 9th or 10th century. The Sofia First Chronicle first mentions it in 859; the Novgorod First Chronicle mentions it first in the year 862, when it was allegedly already a major station on the trade route from the Baltics to Byzantium.

Novgorod Kremlin stands on the left bank of the Volkhov River in Veliky Novgorod about two miles north of where it empties out of Lake Ilmen. The compound was originally the site of a pagan burial ground upon which the first bishop of Novgorod built the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom upon on his arrival in the area in 989 or so. Thus the compound was and remained largely an ecclesiastical site, although many Novgorodian boyars built their houses in the southern part of the Detinets. The first reference to fortifications on the site dates to 1044 with additional construction taking place in 1116. These were probably earthern embankments topped by a wooden palisade, although stone towers and walls were built in 1302. Archbishop Vasily Kalika (1330-1352) rebuilt the stone wall along the eastern side of the Detinets in 1331-1335. The rest was completed in stone only in 1400. Part of Vasily's walls collapsed into the Volkhov River in 1437 and were rebuilt by Archbishop Evfimy II (1429-1458).

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Oljika (postcrossing) sent from Vladivostok (Russia) on 03.10.2013