Novgorod is the largest city in the oblast of the same name. Novgorod is first mentioned in 859 as a trading post between Scandinavia and Constantinople. The city is certainly older, and in the 8th century the Scandinavian ruler Rurik made Novgorod the capital. In 882, Rurik subsequently moved the capital to Kiev, but Novgorod remained the most important city for foreign trade, and in the 9th century the city became a religious center with the introduction of Christianity.

In 1136, Novgorod seceded from Kiev and formed the Republic of Novgorod, which ruled over most of Northeastern Europe. In the 13th century, Novgorod became a member of the Hanseatic League, and it was one of Europe’s most important trading cities. Novgorod also became a great cultural city with, among other things, production of books and icons, and in the 14th century it had approximately 400,000 inhabitants.

The growth had negative consequences, as the city became dependent on grain from cities in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which ended up annexing Novgorod in 1478. The city maintained its status as the region’s most important trading city until Peter the Great’s founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703. After that, Novgorod was a large provincial town in the following centuries before it entered the front line during World War II.

Germany occupied the city from 1941 to 1944, when virtually all Novgorod cultural treasures and old buildings were destroyed or stolen and brought to Germany. After the war, Novgorod’s old center was rebuilt, and the city entered the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992. Six years later, it got its old name back, and it was Veliky Novgorod again.

As one of Russia’s oldest and historically most important cities, Novgorod is a place of great and interesting sights. The old center of the city is Novgorod Kremlin/Новгородский кремль, also known as Novgorod Detinets/Новгородский детинец. It was here that Ioakim Korsunianin built the first church at the end of the 9th century, and it was here that the city grew with boyar palaces, church buildings and the mighty fortifications that in total still surround the Kremlin with walls approximately 1,500 meters in length.

You can walk along the walls both inside and outside, and they stand as an impressive building from mainly the years 1484-1490. Nine of the original twelve fortress towers have been preserved along the walls, of which Kokuj Tower/Башня Кокуй is the tallest.

Within the walls of the Novgorod Kremlin, Saint Sofia Cathedral/Софийский собор can be seen as the most famous sight. The cathedral was built 1045-1050 with five domes and a tear dome and a height of 38 meters as a replacement for Ioakim Korsunianin’s original wooden church. St. Sophia Cathedral is thereby the oldest church in Russia outside the Caucasus, and it is the country’s oldest building that is still in use.

In the church you can see a beautiful interior with old wall paintings dating back to the consecration of the cathedral. However, the majority of the interior decoration comes from renovations in the latter half of the 19th century. You can also see icons and a beautiful iconostasis in the cathedral, which is part of the UNESCO cultural heritage of Novgorod.

In the area around Saint Sophia Cathedral, you can visit several museums with, among other things, icons and city history in some of the buildings within the walls of Novgorod’s Kremlin. You can also walk a little south from the cathedral, where the Millennium Monument of Russia/Тысячелетие России stands. It is a large monument dedicated in 1862 to commemorate the thousandth anniversary of Rurik’s arrival in Novgorod.

It was an event that is considered the start of Russian state formation. The monument is built in several levels with an angel as a symbol of the Orthodox Church at the top. On the middle level there are statues of significant events in Russian history, while the lower level consists of tsars, church people, military heroes, scientists and more.

There are also other things to see elsewhere in Novgorod when you go outside the Kremlin walls. To the east lies the river Volkhov, and along the walls you can go to the small beach that has been built along the river. To the southwest of the Kremlin, you can visit the Desjatinny Monastery/Десятинный монастырь, which was founded in the 14th century and is today a complex of buildings that have been built over many centuries.

You can also walk northwest from the Kremlin to the large square where Novgorod’s town hall and regional government building are located. It is an imposing construction from 1955-1959 in the Soviet era. The big house was built as the regional supreme Soviet/Дом Советов, and in the square in front you can see the city’s monument to Vladimir Lenin. You can continue along this axis to the city’s railway station building, which in its current version dates from 1953.

On a stroll in Novgorod, you can also enjoy the trip along the river Volkhov, where in the area north of the Kremlin you can see the city’s modern Drama Theater/Театр Драмы. The large theater was completed in 1987 by a large terrace that extends to the river bank. It is also a good idea to walk across the river to the eastern bank, from where there is a beautiful panoramic view of the Novgorod Kremlin. Jaroslav’s Hof/Ярославово Дворище is also located here. It was a royal residential area in early Novgorod, which Yaroslav I built as a residence. Today you can see several buildings in the area, such as Saint Nicholas Church/Николо-Дворищенский собор from the 12th century.