Main article: Novgorod Republic
Novgorod is the most ancient Slavic city recorded in Russia. The chronicle first mentions it in 859, when it was already a major station on the trade route from the Baltics to Byzantium. The Varangian name of the city Holmgard (also Holmgarðr, Hólmgarður, Holmgaard, Holmegård) is mentioned in Norse Sagas as existing substantially earlier, but it is impossible to separate the historical facts from the surrounding myth. Later in history, Holmgard referred only ...
No other Russian or Ukrainian city may compete with Novgorod in the variety and age of its medieval monuments. The foremost among these is the St Sophia Cathedral, built in the 1040s at the behest of Yaroslav the Wise. It is the best preserved of 11th century churches, and the first one to represent original features of Russian architecture (austere stone walls, five helmet-like cupolas). Its frescoes were painted in the 12th century and renovated in the 1860s. The cathedral features famous bronze gates, made in Magdeburg in 1156 and reportedly snatched by Novgorodians from t ...
