About the City This ancient Russian city is situated 170 km away from Saint-Petersburg on the banks of the river Volkhov, not far from Lake Ilmen, on the ancient trade ways from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

From 1136 until 1478, Novgorod was the capital of the Independant Republik, and even then was known as "Sir Great Novgorod". Trade, crafts and arts developed here. Novgorod art school is peculiar for it's monumentalism, as well as simplicity and delicacy.

It takes three hours by coach to get to this amazing city with all it's historical and architectural monuments. These include the Novgorod Kremlin and St. Sophia's Cathedral bulit in the eleventh century, the old market place on the bank of the river Volkhov, the Church of the Saviour with its frescos by Theophanus the Greek and the Yuriev Monastery with St. George's Cathedral.

Not far from Novgorod by the Myachinskiye Lakes there is a unique museum of wooden architecture and ethnography called "Vitoslavitsy". Over a period of thirty years, twenty-two wooden buildings were gathered in this picturesque place. Churches, chapels, houses, windmills and barns were brought here from different districts of Novgorod region. Their interiors are fully restored and serve as a fine example of the old Russian peasant culture.