In the morning we went to see the Novgorod Kremlin, often called the Novgorod Detinets. The first Bishop of Novgorod built his “Cathedral of Holy Wisdom” in 989 and the fortification of the site began in 1044. The stone walls were built in 1331-1335 and the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom was rebuilt in stone in about 1050 by Vladimir of Novgorod at the behest of his father, Yaroslav the Wise. It is therefore one of the oldest buildings in Russia. A service was in progress as we went in, and the music was spine-tinglingly beautiful. The interior was very dark with mainly oil lamps producing light, and the ancient frescoes were glorious..
I had spent ages planning our route into St Petersburg and then messed things up by taking the wrong turning off the M10 motorway and found myself on the outer ring road. It stretches for over 100 miles but I found a turning which took us into the city and by good fortune brought us to the eastern end of the major thoroughfare of Nevskii Prospekt. We noticed the huge Moskva hotel and booked in at some great cost of about £90 and then had to pay a further £15 for parking. The breakfast was excellent in a huge room which must have held over 500 people.
The walls of Novgorod Kremlin
The monument built in 1862 to commemorate the foundation in Russia in 862
The cathedral with the Archbishop’s Palace on the left
The cathedral
The clock tower
Sarcofagus of Prince Vladimir (1020-1052)
Sarcofagus of Princess Anna Novgorodskya. Swedish in origin, she married Yaroslav the Wise in 1016, and was responsible for the beginning of construction of the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom. She died in 1050
Sarcofagus of Prince Fedor Yaroslavich Novgorodskii (1218-1233), brother of Aleksandr Nevskii
War memorial in the Kremlin