Grand Novgorod

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A McDonalds breakfast and a green tea in the warm room is a good way to start the morning in some cases, when you arrive rather early and the excursion bus has not yet arrived. If you are served by a young fat lady you perhaps will think that a fast-food restaurant is not the best place for any overweight person even to approach.



But first we have to return back to the autumn of 2009. Back then I visited Novgorod for the first time (it was cold late autumn), saw the Kremlin and lots of churches, and clumsily ‘stole’ another person’s meal at a café… I did not understand what I did, I simply took the food that was brought to the counter, though my own order would come next. The excursion of 2013 was more interesting because I saw three other deserving sites. It should be borne in mind that Novgorod was one of the most important Russian towns in its time, and is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage.



The Pervye Linii bus departed at 8 o’clock and took about 3-4 hours to reach our first destination, Perynskiy Skit, a secluded monastery on the shore of Ilmen Lake. It is supposed that the Peryn common accommodated an Old Russian pagan sanctuary dedicated to the Slavonic God Perun. In 989, Novgorod was christened and the Perun xoanon was cut down, and an Orthodox church was later built on the place, the thirteenth-century version of which we saw. It is a very small church, the likes whereof one can see in many old Russian towns, but I at once noted a peculiar feature: the cross on its top had a half-moon. It is not in any way related to Islam, but represents a grape vine, a typical feature of the Pre-Mongol era. Then I walked to Ilmen lake shore and saw some small yachts.



Then the guide took us to Svyato-Yuryev Monastery. The big bell tower dominated the monastery, with several small blue domes with eight-pointed stars neighbouring it. The monastery was founded somewhere in 1030. The group entered Georgievsky Cathedral, erected in the XII century, where I saw some ancient frescoes.



A very short distance from the monastery is Vitoslavlitsy Museum of wooden architecture, founded in 1965 in order to preserve the monuments of wooden architecture in the open air. I first heard about it during the excursion to Staraya Russa, and immediately decided to visit it because I adore old wooden houses (I have lived almost my whole life in them). The principle reminded me of Stockholm’s Skansen Museum – the places of this kind will never fail to attract my attention, blending ethnography and architecture. Though, a museum is only a museum, and it cannot substitute the “original version”. I think somewhere in a Russian village peasants still live in such houses.



The museum has the oldest Russian wooden monuments of the XVI century, residential and industrial constructions of the XVIII-XIX centuries. Now, a wooden ‘izba’ is just so true to nature, all of wood, without any concrete or cement stuff, it feels like a living being, it creaks and decays with time… Like a living being, it will live for several centuries, and then gradually die. The museum’s aim is to preserve them, guard against rodents and rotting. The visitors can experience the way ordinary people lived many years ago. There were lots of tourists there.



Our group went inside the first izba – V. Tunitsky’s izba from Pyrischi Village, the 70-80-ies of the XIX century. I’ll now dwell briefly on what is an ‘izba’. Basically, it is the national type of Russian private residence, a wooden house in rural areas. Such houses (not cottages!) can be only rarely found in large Russian cities, but are commonplace in smaller towns. Now imagine you are a peasant and what do you have? You have a sort of two-storey building, with many ‘sections’: the lower part is used for storage of sleighs and horse wagons, plus the related paraphernalia, a loft barn (just try to think of how often you make love in a loft barn these days, if living in a huge city), barrels, buckets, scythes, baskets, no electric lighting (gas lamps, at best – but still better are candles). There is no wide and soft bed, but simple benches used for sleeping, and allowing space-saving. The little ones, they go up high, just near the ceiling, where ‘polati’ are arranged – sort of ‘false’ ceiling, made of boards, where the kids would climb from the stove. Your stove is your best friend during the winter, because it’s warm and allows cooking. I was still a student, when our granny (now deceased) used to cook all food on the stove, and sometimes on the gas stove. I remember sitting late in the evenings, feeding coal or wood to the joyfully sparkling flames.



I also saw several other wooden izbas, basically the same but with minor differences and portraying different aspects of rural life. There are also wooden churches, all with various carved shapes for decorations.



As I ascended the church steps, I heard an announcement of bell music concert – it would take place in a couple of minutes inside the church. I saw some other exhibits – a wooden ice-hill, smithy, drying barn, chapel. I felt much satisfaction visiting the museum.



And then, we returned to Novgorod (we drove across the city on our way to Perynsky Skit) to visit Kremlin and Yaroslavovo Dvorische. I seemed to be more impressed by the Kremlin than in 2009. It looks so imposing and predominating. It was first mentioned in the chronicles in 1044. Its current look dates back to the XV century. On its one side flows the Volkhov River, on the other side are a dyke and a colourful government building on the opposite side of the entrance. I’ll be very brief about the Kremlin because such places should be better seen on one’s own. I first saw the Monument to the Millennium of the Russian State – a huge bell-shaped construction featuring 128 sculptures and high reliefs of all the more or less important guys in Russian history: Ryurik, Vladimir, Dmitry Donskoy, Minin and Pozharsky, Peter I and others. Not far from there is Sofia Cathedral, built in 1045-1050, the most ancient surviving cathedral in Russia built by Slavic people. It was at this point that I left the group and went inside the Cathedral, feeling sleepy and wanting to at least move about quicker. I saw the cathedral frescoes, then passed a collection of bells near the Sofia bell-tower.



I crossed the bridge over Volkhov River, yielding an excellent panorama on the Kremlin (the view is still better if you ascend the walls, as I did in 2009 for a small fee), and leading to the Yaroslavovo Dvorische. There was a small boat offering a one-hour cruise. At the other end of the bridge sat several Chinese (as I can judge by the language) tourists; I took the photo of the barefoot girl monument. She is a tourist, by the way, tired after having a walk in Novgorod.



Yaroslavovo Dvorische is an architectural complex, named after prince Yaroslav the Wise. It was an important place for decision-making and trading long ago. To me it seemed the largest concentration of churches in a single spot. The churches are differing in appearance and are rather old.



Soon I was searching for a café (the guide advised us Kolobok and Dom Berga), I found both but decided to choose Dom Berga because Kolobok’s prices were suspiciously low. Ha, Dom Berga turned out to be a restaurant with much higher prices, but had I been more attentive, I’d notice that the restaurant also had a ‘café’ section where the members of our group went. I had a hearty bite for 20 Euros, including borsch, chicken with pineapple and mashed potatoes, and briar tea. Of course, there was no need to spend so much money. After the meal, our group was given a brief outline of the history of Yaroslavovo Dvorische, and, to finish the day, we made a visit to Varlaamo-Khutynsky Monastery, founded in 1192, 7 kilometers from Novgorod. There is a bell-tower, Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, a huge woodpile (I wondered how they managed to stack them all so neatly), and a small hill with a little chapel.





Just outside the monastery is a monument to the soldiers of 229^th rifle division who fought against the Nazis in March-April 1943. The drive back was a bit annoying because of traffic jams.

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Photos

Perynski Skit, Church of Rozdestva Presvyatoy Bogoroditsy
end of XII - beginning of XIII century