Sophia of Novgorod - the legends of the ancient temple. Sophia Cathedral - the great abode of God in the Novgorod land Novgorod Cathedral of St. Sophia

"Where St. Sophia is, there is Novgorod"

So they say in Russia for a thousand years. Ever since when in the 11th century a grandiose Cathedral of Sophia the Wisdom of God. The temple was founded by Yaroslav the Wise and his son Vladimir. The cathedral was conceived as the central city temple. After many centuries, divine services continue in the Sophia Cathedral, and everyone can touch this ancient Orthodox shrine. The cathedral is open daily from 8 am to 8 pm. Services are held at 10:00 am and 6:00 pm. The cathedral also serves as a city necropolis. Famous citizens of this city are buried in its southern gallery. Bishops, princes and posadniks.

Temple built from 1045 to 1050 and is the oldest surviving stone building in Russia. Novgorodians themselves at all times treated the cathedral with the greatest reverence. For example, they believed that it was thanks to Sophia's intercession that their city had never been subjected to Tatar raids. It is known that in 1238 their detachments turned back, not reaching the city quite a bit. The townspeople saw this God's sign. In 1391 the city was saved from a terrible pestilence. And again, the Novgorodians correlated this with the intercession of St. Sophia. It should be noted that during its construction the temple was the only stone building in Novgorod. Were building it Kyiv and Byzantine masters, no doubt, very talented, who were able to convey in stone the features of the Novgorod northern character. Restraint, severity, grandiosity of thoughts, power.

Exists legend about how, during the painting of the dome, on which Savior with outstretched right hand, the hand of Jesus Christ was clenched into a fist. The fresco was repainted several times until the artist had a dream in which Christ said that he had specially clenched his hand to keep Novgorod there.

The cathedral has five domes. In the 15th century, the central one was covered with gilding, which gave the temple an even more majestic appearance. Simultaneously with the gilding of the dome on the cross was strengthened lead pigeon symbolizing Holy Spirit. In Russia of that time there was another similar building - the Kyiv temple, which has not survived to this day. From Kyiv Cathedral, Novgorodsky was distinguished by its smaller size and more strict forms.

TV project "Novgorodinki" of the TV channel "Triad »: Tour of St. Sophia Cathedral with Sergei Gormin.

Time did not spare the interior of the cathedral. But, nevertheless, something remained. For example, amazing images of Saints Constantine and Helena have been preserved in the Martirva porch. The images date back to the 11th century. The unusual feature of this fresco is that it was painted not on wet plaster, as usual, but on dry plaster. Such an unusual technique, applied by an ancient artist, will give the image a peculiar “floating” look. Researchers believe that it was in this technique that the ancient wooden churches of Russia were painted. Unfortunately, time has not preserved any of them.

The final decoration of the interior of the St. Sophia Cathedral was completed in the XII century. From the surviving fragments, we can see that the central drum was decorated with three-meter-high figures of the prophets. The altar part was decorated with mosaics and figures of saints. In the southern gallery there was an image of Deesis, that is, canonical icons depicting Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and John the Baptist.

Two icons have been preserved from the altar of the 11th century. It:

• "Savior on the Throne"
• "Apostles Peter and Paul"

A new iconostasis, higher, was installed in St. Sophia Cathedral much later, in the XIV-XVI centuries.

Magdeburg Gates

Today, visitors can enter the cathedral through the northern doors. The western gates are considered the main ones, and they open during solemn services. These gates are also unusual. They came to Novgorod as a war trophy from Sweden in the 12th century. The gates were made in Germany, in the city of Magdeburg. In the 15th century, the gate was reconstructed by the Russian master Abraham, whose image can be seen today on the gate next to the image of the German foundry masters Weismut and Rikvin.

One of the most significant icons painted in 1170, considered miraculous. This icon is still kept in St. Sophia Cathedral. We are talking about icon Mother of God"The Omen", which protected the city from the invasion of Suzdal. This event played such a big role in the life of the city that to this day it is celebrated as a revered religious holiday. This event formed the basis of the plot of another well-known icon, which is called “The Battle of Novgorodians with Suzdalians”.

Saint Sophia Cathedral is a functioning temple, open from 8 am to 8 pm. Services are held at 10 am and 6 pm.

Not only fragments of fresco paintings of the 12th century, but also ancient graffiti have been preserved on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral. Ancient graffiti - this is the name of the inscriptions on the walls of Russian medieval buildings, scrawled with a “writer” - a tool for writing on birch bark, - a very common phenomenon in Russia until the 15th century the fact that back in the 10th century, the prince of Kievan Rus Vladimir the Baptist by decree forbade the carving of inscriptions on the walls of temples. It was Novgorod, whose architecture was not destroyed by the raids of the Tatars, who brought these inscriptions to us in the greatest volume. In addition to the St. Sophia Cathedral, they can be found in the Church of the Savior on Nereditsa, the Church of Theodore Stratelat on the Stream, and other churches in Novgorod. Like birch bark, Novgorod graffiti brought to us the living voices of the inhabitants of medieval Novgorod. But unlike birch bark letters, tied to a specific life situation, most of the graffiti is addressed to God or saints, expresses the thoughts and feelings of their writer ("scratching"). Some passages contain echoes of paganism, or simply represent everyday inscriptions.

The program of the Novgorod regional television: “To the holy places of the Novgorod land. Saint Sophia Cathedral"

Graffiti

Archaeologists who once explored the site of the death of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii were able to extract a lot of information from the inscriptions on the walls of houses made by ordinary people. The same thing happened in Novgorod. It was on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral that the so-called graffiti were preserved - inscriptions made with the help of “wrote” - devices for writing not bark.

They wrote on birch bark in Russia until the 15th century. Until that time, numerous inscriptions can be read. It will be interesting to know that as far back as the 10th century, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv forbade scratching inscriptions on the walls of churches by a special decree. But apparently the people were in no hurry to obey the princely decrees, so in Novgorod, which was not destroyed by the Tatars, on the walls of the oldest Russian stone building, you can read appeals ordinary people. The abundance of inscriptions indicates that the majority of Novgorodians were literate. The inscriptions are in the nature of an appeal to the Christian God, but there are also those that bear an echo of pagan beliefs. However, there are also inscriptions of a purely domestic orientation.

It is thanks to graffiti that we know the names of some of the masters who once worked in the construction and decoration of this masterpiece of ancient Russian architecture. These are George, Stefan and Sezhir.

Painting of the 11th century

It is known that after the construction the temple was painted only partially, in separate fragments. Real work on the painting of the cathedral began only in 1108. These works partially concealed earlier frescoes, but they were discovered during the restoration of the cathedral, which was carried out in late XIX century. It was then that they discovered images of Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena. The figures stand on both sides of a huge cross.

Apparently, the inhabitants of Novgorod drew parallels between the Byzantine rulers and local princes. So, looking at Konstantin and Elena, the townspeople could well see their Prince Vladimir of Kyiv, who baptized Russia and Princess Olga. An association with Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich, the son of Yaroslav the Wise and Princess Anna, was also evoked. It was these people who were directly involved in the construction of the St. Sophia Cathedral. And to this day they celebrate the days of memory of these historical figures who played such a big role in the fate of the city.

Miraculous icons of St. Sophia Cathedral

Sophia Cathedral today has two iconostasis. This is the main, Assumption and Rozhdestvensky. In front of the Assumption iconostasis you can see miraculous icon"Mother of God of the Sign".

On the Nativity iconostasis, you can see two icons at once, which are considered miraculous. It:

• "Tikhvin Mother of God"
• "Savior on the Throne"

More about icons

The Mother of God of Tikhvin is the most revered icon. It is an exact copy from another of the same icon. It is believed that such a copy, "list", completely takes over all the properties of the original. It is believed that this icon was painted at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century.

The icon called "The Savior on the Throne" was painted in the 16th century. The icon was painted on top of an older image, which has also been preserved and which can be viewed through specially made small windows.

The article was written on the basis of the book “Where St. Sophia is, there is Novgorod”, St. Petersburg, 1997.

SOFIA CATHEDRAL

Novgorod Sofia is one of the most outstanding monuments ancient Russian architecture, which is of world significance. Its construction testifies to the intention to repeat in Novgorod the brilliance and splendor of the grand ducal construction in Kyiv. Novgorod Sofia repeated Kyiv not only in name.

The Church of Hagia Sophia is the main building of the city; it, as it were, personifies Novgorod itself. It is no coincidence that the ancient Novgorodians, going into battle with the enemy, swore to "stand up and die for Hagia Sophia." The cathedral, in the minds of the inhabitants, personified the independence of Novgorod.

Story

Sophia of Novgorod, like many cathedrals that have survived to this day, had a predecessor temple. The Novgorod chronicles preserved the news of the construction in 989, following the adoption of Christianity, of a wooden Sophia "of thirteen peaks" over the Volkhov River at the end of Piskupli (Episcopal) Street.

But the multi-domed temple did not last long - a handsome man. In 1045, as the chronicler narrates, "Saint Sophia burned down on Saturday, in the morning...". Shortly after the fire, in the same year, a new, stone Sofia was laid.

The temple was built by the command of Prince Vladimir of Novgorod and consecrated by St. Luke Zhidyata, who then ruled the Novgorod diocese. The construction was completed in 1050 (which is quite fast, considering that it took at least 10 thousand cubic meters of stone and brick). Data on the time of the consecration of the cathedral differ. In the Novgorod 1st chronicle, this event is attributed to 1050, and in the Novgorod 3rd chronicle - to 1052. Data on the initial painting of the cathedral by Constantinople masters immediately after the completion of construction are available in the Novgorod 3rd chronicle. The historian of ancient Russian art V. G. Bryusova suggested that the first consecration took place on August 5, 1050 on Sunday - on the eve of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It was associated with the completion of the construction of the cathedral. The second took place on the feast of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross- September 14, 1052, when Sofia was already painted with frescoes and decorated with icons. Incidentally, a similar, double, date is indicated by sources with respect to St. Sophia of Kyiv.

The main temple of Novgorod, like Kyiv, was dedicated to Sophia the Wisdom of God; Novgorodians were proud of their Sophia. The words of Prince Mstislav “where is St. Sophia, that Novgorod” became winged for a long time, expressing the respect of the townspeople for the main shrine of their native city.

The erection of this huge cathedral, even according to modern ideas, laid the foundations for the art school of Novgorod architecture, which differed from architecture
the brilliant princely buildings of Kyiv.

Already in the 30s. 12th century Sophia of Novgorod ceased to be a princely temple, turning into the main temple of the Novgorod Veche Republic. A veche was held on the square in front of the cathedral. Here, the ancient Novgorodians chose their lord by lot. All Novgorod clergy were convened for his election. Usually veche planned three candidates. And then the blind man or the boy took two lots, and the one whose lot remained became the ruler of Novgorod.

With the accession in the XV century. Novgorod to Moscow, St. Sophia lost its former influence. For hundreds of subsequent years, the cathedral remained simply the main temple of the city, and then of the Novgorod province.

In 2000, Sofia in Novgorod celebrated its 950th anniversary. Almost a thousand-year history of the cathedral is full of various kinds of events. Chronicles report on numerous construction and finishing works in the temple, on the burial places of Novgorod lords and princes, on political events in Novgorod, directly related to Sophia.

The Soviet government closed the St. Sophia Cathedral in 1929. The oldest Novgorod temple has become a museum. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), Sofia was savagely looted and damaged: the walls and vaults were pierced by shells, the gilding of the domes, along with copper sheets, was torn off. Many ancient frescoes perished, the decoration of the cathedral was stolen or destroyed.

In the postwar years, St. Sophia Cathedral was restored. It hosted the exhibitions "Handwritten and early printed books", "Sofia house in the economy and culture of Novgorod", "Sofia graffiti".

On August 14, 1991, the session of the Novgorod Regional Council of People's Deputies approved the decision of the regional executive committee to transfer St. Sophia Cathedral to the permanent and free use of the Novgorod diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. On August 15, an act of transfer was signed, and the next day a solemn consecration of the cathedral took place, which was performed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

How to get to St. Sophia Cathedral from the train station.

On city buses, No. 9 to the stop "Ploschad Pobedy-Sofiyskaya" (the third one from the station) orNo. 7 and 7a to the stop "Sennaya Square".

The majestic St. Sophia Cathedral, the main temple of Veliky Novgorod, fascinates with its power. Like a stone incarnation of a Russian hero, he guards the peace of the city. From the day of its foundation, the cathedral, otherwise called Sophia of Novgorod or Hagia Sophia, has been a symbol of the city. Sophia of Novgorod, built in the middle of the 11th century by Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich, is the only temple of those times that has survived in Russia.

The walls of the cathedral, reaching a thickness of 1.2 meters, were made of limestone of different shades, which gave Hagia Sophia a special beauty. Later, the temple was plastered and painted white. Initially, all six domes of St. Sophia Cathedral were covered with lead sheets. In the 15th century, the main dome was upholstered with gilded copper, thanks to which the cathedral acquired an even more solemn look.

Built in the Byzantine style, the cathedral, however, had its own unique appearance. Severe restraint in details, nobility of adjusted proportions, solidity of closely spaced domes - all this created the impression of a powerful energy contained in the image of the temple.

In general, the style of the cathedral was organically combined with northern nature. No wonder that it was he who became the forerunner of the stone architecture of Northwestern Russia, it was this architectural style that reigned in these parts for many centuries.

Sophia Cathedral, the oldest architectural and historical monument in Russia, is connected some interesting legends. Here they are:

1. Dove on the cross

Sophia Cathedral, pigeon

The cross of the main dome of Sophia of Novgorod is decorated with a dove. According to the legend, the figurine of a bird appeared there not by chance. In 1570, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ruthlessly suppressed the rebellion of the inhabitants of Novgorod. In the midst of a terrible massacre, a dove sat on the cross of the temple and petrified with fear. Around the same time, one of the local monks had a dream in which the Mother of God enlightened him about the dove. According to her, the bird was sent to Novgorod as a sign of protection. " As long as the dove is on the cross of Hagia Sophia, the city will be safe.”

Dove on the cross of St. Sophia Cathedral

It is noteworthy that the cross was taken to Spain during the Great Patriotic War. Volunteers from Spain also took part in the war on the side of the Third Reich - the so-called "Blue Division". (The division got its name from the blue shirts - the uniform of the far-right party - the Spanish Falange). During one of the Soviet shelling, several shells hit the central dome of Hagia Sophia, and the cross leaned heavily down. Religious Spaniards decided to take the shrine away, because it seemed to them that in Bolshevik Russia the shrines were defiled. For many years he stood at the Engineering Academy. Under it was an inscription that this cross is in storage in Spain and will return to Russia when the godless Bolshevik regime disappears.

He returned to his hometown relatively recently, in 2004, having been exchanged for an exact copy.

2. Miracles of the icon

The second legend is connected with the shrine of the city "The Sign Holy Mother of God”, stored in the St. Sophia Cathedral. The icon depicts the Virgin Mary, with her hands raised to heaven and with the baby Jesus on her chest.

During the clash of 1169 between Novogorodsk and Suzdal, the advantage was on the side of the latter. The townspeople could only hope for a miracle. And it happened!

The rector of St. Sophia Cathedral, John, prayed for several days, crying out to the Lord for help. Finally, the abbot heard a voice that ordered him to transfer the icon of the Mother of God from the temple to the fortress wall of Novgorod. John immediately followed her and then, guided by an invisible hand, the cathedral bells rang. The icon was installed on the wall, and immediately the arrows of the enemy stuck into the image of the Virgin Mary. After that, the icon itself turned its face to Novgorod and tears flowed from it ... At the same time, the people of Suzdal found a haze, they began to beat their own comrades. In horror and confusion, the enemy fled. It is not known how true the legend is, but even now traces of arrows are visible on the icon.

Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos

3. The right hand of Jesus

According to the chronicles, in 1045 Greek icon painters began to paint the vault of St. Sophia Cathedral. It was necessary to create an image of Jesus Christ with a blessing hand, according to Orthodox canon. The masters began their work, but in the morning they depicted right hand Jesus was clenched into a fist. The icon painters of Christ re-copied three times, and all three times in the morning the hand of the Savior was clenched. For the fourth time, the master's attempts were heard from heaven:

"Scribes, oh clerks! Do not write me with a blessing hand, write me with a clenched hand, for I hold Veliky Novgorod in this hand of mine; and when my hand is spread out, then this hail will end ... "

Much later, in 1941, the image of Jesus Christ under the main dome of the temple was destroyed by a German shell. The hand of the Almighty Savior, figuratively speaking, turned out to be unclenched, and the city turned into ruins...

4. "Earless" bell of Hagia Sophia

Tsarevich Ivan for a walk with guardsmen. Hood. M. Avilov

The next legend was associated with the bell of Hagia Sophia. Once, Tsar Ivan the Terrible was heading to the temple for mass. As soon as his horse entered the bridge over the Volkhov, like a bell ringer, wanting to please the tsar, struck the bell too hard. Frightened by the loud ringing, the stallion almost knocked the rider over into the river. Enraged, the king ordered the ears of the "daring" bell to be cut off so that only the middle loop remained. Despite this, the bell, nicknamed "earless", served the temple for a long time.

Novgorod Saint Sophia Cathedral- one of the most outstanding monuments of ancient Russian architecture. This is the oldest surviving ancient Russian church in Russia. Built by Prince Vladimir, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, in 1045 - 1050, St. Sophia Cathedral already in the 30s of the 12th century ceased to be a princely temple, turning into the main temple Novgorod Republic. Until today, Novgorod Sophia is a symbol of the city, and the words spoken by Mstislav the Great in the distant 12th century: “Where St. Sophia is, there is Novgorod” still excite the hearts of the townspeople.

Sophia Cathedral is a five-nave, three-apse, ten-pillar temple. On three sides (except the eastern one) wide two-story galleries adjoin it. The cathedral has five domes, the sixth is crowned with a stair tower located in the western gallery south of the entrance. Poppy domes are made in the form of ancient Russian helmets.

Saint Sophia Cathedral. 2011.

The main volume of the cathedral (without galleries) has a length of 27 m and a width of 24.8 m; together with the galleries, the length is 34.5 m, the width is 39.3 m. The height from the level of the ancient floor, which is 2 meters lower than the modern one, to the top of the cross of the central dome is 38 m. limestone of different shades. The stones are not finished (only the side facing the surface of the walls is hewn) and fastened with lime mortar with impurities of crushed bricks (trout). Arches, arched lintels and vaults are made of brick. The interior is close to that of a Kievan church, although the proportions of the vertically elongated arches and narrow vertical compartments between the pillars differ noticeably. Thanks to this, the interior has a different character. Some details were simplified: triple arcades were replaced by double-span ones (later their lower tiers were replaced by wide arches). The cathedral itself has not been rebuilt during its ten-century history. It was repaired after fires and wars, which could not hurt it much. The walls of Sofia were covered with plaster, and the domes with lead, the main dome was gilded in the 15th century under Archbishop Ivan Kalik.

The first temples apparently appeared in Novgorod immediately after the adoption of Christianity at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries. One of the first churches in the city was the Church of St. Sophia, which is often called the predecessor of the stone St. Sophia Cathedral. about whether this existed wooden church in fact, historians will argue until researchers manage to find its remains in the course of archaeological excavations. In the oldest of the chronicles that have survived to this day, the Novgorod First Chronicle, it is only reported that in 1049 the church burned down. “The month of March at 4, on the Sabbath day, St. Sophia is burned; the beasha was honestly arranged and decorated, 13 the tops of the property, and that was St. Sophia at the end of Piskuple Street, where now he erected the church to Sotka, the stone of St. Boris and Gleb over the Volkhov. Some researchers consider this entry to be a fiction of the chronicler, since there is no other information about the wooden Sophia. However old church described in too much detail, and its exact location is indicated.

Photo from 1900. Author: AeJse Trasarebre

The construction of the first stone cathedral of Veliky Novgorod began in 1045 and continued either until 1050 or until 1052 (according to various sources). Initially, the walls of the temple were not whitewashed, with the exception of the apses and drums, which were curvilinear in plan and covered with a layer of nodules. Inner sides the walls were also exposed, while the vaults were originally plastered with opal and covered with frescoes. This design was chosen under the influence of the architecture of Constantinople, in which the marble cladding of the walls was combined with the mosaics on the vaults; however, the marble was replaced with limestone and the mosaics were replaced with frescoes.

The Novgorod Sophia Cathedral was built by masters from Kyiv and Byzantium. One can imagine how an almost 40-meter stone temple erected in just a few years influenced the Novgorodians of the middle of the 11th century: surrounded by the very first oak walls of the Kremlin, among wooden houses and courtyards of a still young city, on the banks of the Volkhov River, which was then part of a busy shopping mall. route.

Sophia Cathedral on a banknote of 5 rubles. Sample 1997.

The dedication of the Cathedral of Sophia is actually a dedication to God, which refers to Sophia of Constantinople, and even more ancient - to the temple of wisdom built by Solomon.

As a result of research led by Grigory Shtender, it was found that initially the galleries of St. Sophia Cathedral were built open in the image of Kyiv and Constantinople churches. Having already begun work on the construction, the architects decided to change the project and close the galleries due to the colder Novgorod climate.

The first painting of the temple began immediately after its construction in the middle of the 11th century. The few frescoes of that period that have survived to this day include “ Konstantin and Elena”, obviously written by Byzantine masters. The main work on the painting of St. Sophia Cathedral was carried out in the XII century, in 1108-1109 and 1144. Thanks to the slight weakness of the masters, who left several of their autographs as a keepsake, and also thanks to a happy occasion that allowed the ancient frescoes to survive all the ups and downs of the history of Novgorod for nine centuries, we know that one of the masters who painted St. Sophia Cathedral in the 12th century was called Stefan. He was, apparently, a master monk who led the work. On one of the graffiti, Stefan even depicted himself with pectoral cross in a monastic cloak. There are other names of painters on the walls of the cathedral - Mikula and Radko.

Sofia Cathedral at night. 2003

One of the true treasures of St. Sophia Cathedral is the oldest handwritten book preserved in Russia - Ostromir Gospel. The book was made in 1056-1057 and was used for worship in Sofia. At the moment, the Gospel is kept in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg.

home Orthodox shrine Sophia Cathedral - icon Sign of the Holy Mother of God(Our Lady of the Sign) - one of the most revered Orthodox icons. According to legend, she saved Novgorod from the siege of the Suzdal prince Andrei Bogolyubsky in 1170. The forces of Novgorod and Suzdal were unequal, and the defenders of the city began to pray for a miracle. On the third night of the siege, Archbishop John of Novgorod heard a voice from above, commanding him to take the icon of the Mother of God and go with it around Detinets procession. When the Suzdal people began to fire at the procession, one of the arrows hit the Mother of God in the eye. According to legend, tears flowed from her eyes, and darkness covered Suzdal. In inexplicable horror, they began to retreat from the city, beating each other. In honor of the icon that gave the people of Novgorod peace, Archbishop Ilya established the feast of the Sign of the Mother of God, which is celebrated by the Russian Orthodox Church December 10 (November 27).

Saint Sophia Cathedral. Autumn 2016.

Another pearl of Novgorod Sofia deserves special attention - Magdeburg Gates, which are also called Korsun, Plock or Sigtun. They are located on the western portal of the temple, completely covered with relief images of scenes from the Gospel, made by Western European craftsmen with extraordinary skill. The Magdeburg Gates served as a solemn entrance to the cathedral for several centuries. According to one version, they were made in 1153 in the city of Magdeburg. Most likely, they became a military trophy of the Novgorodians, who went to the Swedish capital Sigtuna in 1187. These gates were made so skillfully that in the 17th century the Swedish king did not forget about the trophy lost five centuries ago, and during the occupation of Novgorod he ordered the commander-in-chief of the Swedish troops to return the gate to their historical homeland. Fortunately, the commander-in-chief did not consider it possible to remove the front gate from the main temple of the Novgorod region.

Saint Sophia Cathedral. 2008

One of the most famous Novgorod legends is associated with the figure of a dove sitting on the highest central cross of St. Sophia Cathedral. During the defeat of Novgorod by Ivan the Terrible in 1570, the dove, according to legend, sat down to rest and turned to stone from the horror he saw. If the stone bird flies away, then the last day of Veliky Novgorod will come.

During the Great Patriotic War, on August 15, 1941, fascist troops occupied Novgorod. During one of the air raids or shelling of the city, the cross with the dove was shot down and hung on the fastening cables, and the commandant of the city ordered it to be removed. During the occupation, the engineering corps of the Spanish Blue Division, which fought on the side of Nazi Germany, was located in Novgorod, and as one of the trophies, the cross of the main dome was taken to Spain. At the request of the governor Novgorod region to the Spanish Embassy in Russia in 2002, it was found that the cross is in the chapel of the Museum of the Military Engineering Academy of Spain in Madrid. The rector of the Sophia Cathedral, Archbishop Lev of Novgorod and Staraya Russian, having received information about the whereabouts of the domed Sophia Cross, at a meeting with the President of Russia inquired about the possibility of returning the cross to Novgorod. As a result of negotiations between the Russian President and the King of Spain, the Spanish side decided to transfer the cross of St. Sophia Cathedral to Russia.

On November 16, 2004, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, he was returned to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II by the Minister of Defense of Spain and is now placed inside St. Sophia Cathedral. By order of the Novgorod administration, an exact copy of the cross found in Spain was made. It was handed over to the Spanish side to replace the original one. The cross, now located on the central dome, was made in 2006 and installed on January 24, 2007.

Address: Novgorod region, Veliky Novgorod, Kremlin.

The Hagia Sophia in Novgorod was built in 1045-1050. by order of the Novgorod prince Vladimir. The cathedral was built of hewn stone and thin brick and was originally unplastered, which made its white and pink walls look very picturesque. This can be judged by a fragment of masonry in the southeastern part of the wall, specially cleared of plaster by restorers.

Before the stone Sophia in Novgorod there was a wooden Sophia temple, oak "about thirteen tops", built in a citadel in 989. It did not stand in the same place as the current cathedral, but on the site of another church, Boris and Gleb. Scientists believe that the wooden temple burned down already during the construction of a new stone one, and for a long time its place was empty.

The builders of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod were Kyiv masters who built the temple on the model of Sophia of Kyiv.

The huge, slightly asymmetrical building of the cathedral is crowned with six massive domes - a central five-domed dome and a separate dome over a quadrangular extension, inside which there is an ascent to the choirs, where the Novgorod nobility was accommodated during the service. The walls of the cathedral are divided by simple strict shoulder blades. Initially, the cathedral was surrounded by open and covered two-tier galleries, later laid down and turned into closed parts of the temple.

From the outside, the temple looks like a real giant. Inside, its space is divided by painted pillars into small parts, high and narrow, which makes it seem that the cathedral is very crowded. And only at the very iconostasis it becomes more spacious. The murals in the cathedral were repeatedly updated and rewritten, but already in the 20th century, the restorers managed to open a number of frescoes - contemporaries of the cathedral. Thus, the fresco "Konstantin and Helena" of the 11th century in the southern vestibule was preserved under the layers of later murals, and fragments of murals of the 12th century were discovered and cleared in the central dome.

The central cathedral of Veliky Novgorod performed not only liturgical functions. In the cathedral, in its huge dungeons, the city treasury and numerous treasures of the cathedral itself were kept. Unfortunately, very little has survived - the cathedral sacristy was repeatedly robbed, including by the "new owners" - the Bolsheviks - and the Nazis during the occupation.

From the very moment of its construction, the cathedral was also used as a tomb for the princes of Novgorod and the higher clergy. In the cathedral itself there are shrines with the relics of saints - Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich of Novgorod, the builder of the cathedral, his mother Princess Anna, the former Princess Ingigerda, St. John, Archbishop of Novgorod, and Prince Theodore Yaroslavich, brother of Alexander Nevsky.

Separate big interest represent the famous Magdeburg Gates (otherwise called the Korsun Gates), brought by the Novgorodians from Sweden. These are high skillfully made doors with 48 cast bronze plates fitted to each other. Each plate depicts figures or plots. The huge gates were already assembled in Novgorod.

In Soviet times, services were still conducted in the cathedral for some time, while the export of valuables from the cathedral's vaults did not stop. Many valuable items were lost, stolen or simply turned into non-ferrous scrap. In the 1920s, a museum of atheism was opened in the cathedral. During the Great Patriotic War, the cathedral was badly damaged, was destroyed and looted by the Nazis. After the war, it took decades to restore it, but after the restoration, the cathedral almost became a kind of "Palace of Culture", far from sacred music and religion in general. In 1991 the cathedral was handed over to believers, services are again conducted in it.