Veliky Novgorod in 3 Russian words
This city was once the capital of Rus' and it was there that the Russian statehood was born. Here are three of its main symbols.
1. СОФИЙСКИЙ СОБОР (St. Sophia Cathedral)
This is the oldest surviving Orthodox church in Russia! It was built in 1045-1050 by order of Novgorod Prince Vladimir, son of Yaroslav the Wise. During the Soviet era, there was a museum of atheism there and, in 1991, the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
2. НОВГОРОДСКИЙ ДЕТИНЕЦ (Novgorod Detinets)
A ‘detinets’ is a walled central fortified part of an ancient Russian city, close in significance to the Moscow Kremlin. It is on the territory of the Novgorod Detinets that the ancient St. Sophia Cathedral is located, as well as the impressive ‘Millennium of Russia’ monument".
3. КУПЕЦ САДКО (Merchant Sadko)
This hero of Novgorod epics, a guslar (who plays a ‘gusli’ - an East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument) and a merchant, ended up in the underwater kingdom to the court of the Sea King, but was able to return home. Composer Rimsky-Korsakov wrote an opera about Sadko and, on Pluto's moon Charon, there is even a crater named after him.
