St. Sophia Cathedral

Hagia Sophia is the main Orthodox church of Veliky Novgorod, created in 1045-1050, the cathedral of the Novgorod Metropolitanate. For centuries it has been the spiritual center of the Novgorod Republic. One of the oldest temples in Russia.

History

In 1046, Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise and Princess Irina (Ingigerda) went to Novgorod from Kiev to their son Vladimir to lay the St. Sophia Cathedral. The cathedral was founded in Detinets on the site of the Vladychny Court and was built until about 1050 instead of the 13-domed wooden church “made of oak about 13 tops” of 989, which burned down before that, but not in the same place, but to the north.

In 1046, Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise and Princess Irina (Ingigerda) went to Novgorod from Kiev to their son Vladimir to lay the St. Sophia Cathedral. The cathedral was founded in Detinets on the site of the Vladychny Court and was built until about 1050 instead of the 13-domed wooden church “made of oak about 13 tops” of 989, which burned down before that, but not in the same place, but to the north.

According to various chronicles, the cathedral was consecrated in 1050 or 1052 by Bishop Luka Zhidyata.

The temple had five naves and three galleries, which housed several additional thrones. The Northern Gallery has been rebuilt several times.

Initially, the walls of the temple were not whitewashed, with the exception of curved apses and drums covered with a layer of tsemyanka. The inner sides of the walls were also exposed, while the vaults were originally plastered with cement and covered with frescoes. This design was chosen under the influence of the architecture of Constantinople, in which marble wall cladding was combined with mosaics on the arches; however, marble was replaced with limestone, and mosaics with frescoes. The walls were completely smeared with tsemyanka, probably already in 1151. The bronze Magdeburg gates in Romanesque style with a large number of high reliefs and sculptures are mounted on the western portal.

During the storming of Novgorod from the troops of Jacob Delagardi, the protopop of the cathedral Amos Ivanovich heroically died in a battle with Swedish soldiers.

No later than the XVIII century, three buttresses were added to the southern and northern facades to strengthen the walls. During the restoration of 1893-1900, the buttresses from the southern facade were dismantled and the water covering was returned to the temple. The restoration of the cathedral was carried out by architect V. V. Suslov.

In 1922, during a campaign to seize church valuables, part of the church property was seized. In 1929, it was closed, and an anti-religious museum was opened in it, where the treasures stored in the sacristy of the cathedral were presented as an example of the riches of the church. During the occupation of Novgorod by Nazi troops, the temple was damaged and looted, after the war it was completely restored and became a department of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. In 1991, it was handed over to the ROC and on August 16, 1991, it was consecrated personally by Patriarch Alexy II. In 2005-2007, the domes of the cathedral were restored.