St. Sophia Cathedral (Novgorod)

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

The cathedral was consecrated according to various chronicles in 1050 or 1052 by Bishop Luke the Jidy .

The temple had five naves and three galleries, in which were located several additional thrones. The Northern Gallery was 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 cement . The inner sides of the walls were also exposed, while the arches were originally plastered with a cement door and covered with frescoes . Such a design was chosen under the influence of the architecture of Constantinople , in which the marble facing of the walls was combined with mosaics on the vaults ; however, marble was replaced by limestone , and mosaic by frescoes. The walls were probably plastered with cement, probably, already in 1151 .

The bronze Magdeburg Romanesque gates with a lot of high reliefs and sculptures are mounted on the western portal.

Not later than the 18th century , three buttresses were attached to the south and north facades to strengthen the walls. During the restoration of 1893-1900 , the buttresses from the southern facade were dismantled and the consolidated coating was returned to the temple. The restoration of the cathedral was carried out by the architect N. S. Kurdyukov .

In 1922, during the campaign for the seizure of church property , part of the church property was seized. In 1929 it was closed, and an anti-religious museum was opened in it ^[1] , where the treasures that were kept in the sacristy of the cathedral were presented as an example of the riches of the church. During the occupation of Novgorod by the fascist 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, he was transferred to the ROC and August 16, 1991 consecrated personally by Patriarch Alexy II . In 2005 - 2007 the domes of the cathedral were restored.

The cathedral is a five-nave cross-domed temple . Temples of this type were built in Russia only in the XI century , these, in addition to Novgorod Sofia, include: St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and St. Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk , as well as the Kiev Church of Irina and St. George . The temple has three apses - the central pentahedral, and the side - rounded. From three sides, the central building is surrounded by wide two-story galleries. The time of appearance of the gallery and its original appearance are the subject of scientific disputes, but it probably arose already during the construction of the temple ^[2] .

The cathedral has five chapters, the sixth is crowned by a staircase located in the western gallery south of the entrance. Makovy heads made in the form of ancient Russian helmets .

The main volume of the cathedral (without galleries) has a length of 27 m and a width of 24.8 m; along with the galleries, the length is 34.5 m, width is 39.3 m. The height from the level of the ancient floor, which is 2 meters below the present, to the top of the cross of the central head is 38 m. The walls of the temple, having a thickness of 1.2 m, are made of limestone of different shades. The stones are not trimmed (only the side facing the surface of the walls is trimmed), bonded with lime mortar with admixtures of crushed brick (the so-called cement brick ). Arches, arched lintels and vaults are lined with bricks . In the main apse and in the sails under the middle drum, the inner walls are filled with gramstones - rounded ceramic vessels ^[3] . In some places, through the openings, the vocalists have access to the internal space, due to which, despite the considerable volume of the building, there is no echo in it. In addition, the use of hollow and at the same time rounded forms in masonry significantly reduced the load of the drum on the arches.

The interior is close to the Kiev temple, although the proportions of the arches extended along the vertical and the narrow vertical compartments between the pillars differ markedly. Due to this, the interior has a different character. Some details have undergone simplification: triple arcades are replaced by two-span (later their lower tiers are replaced by wide arches).

St. Sophia Cathedral was made in the Byzantine style, had a pyramidal structure and 6 domes.

St. Sophia Cathedral was finally painted by 1109 , however, only murals of the central dome’s frescoes with figures of prophets and archangels remained in this mural, between which the image of Christ of Pantokrator and the projectile was located in the center between the Great Patriotic War . In addition, in the Martiriev porch there is an ancient wall image of Konstantin and Elena equal to the apostles. There is a version that this image should have been the basis for the mosaic , since it was made with highly diluted paints. The main surviving painting of the temple dates back to the end of the XIX century.

There are three iconostasis in the cathedral. The most famous of them are the main ones (icons of the 15th - 16th centuries, a festive row of icons of the 14th century are kept in the museum’s exposition) and the Nativity (16th century, individual icons - the 19th century, the icon “The Savior on the Throne” of the 14th century). Among the icons stand out:

• Icon of the Mother of God "Sign"
• Euthymius the Great , Anthony the Great , Savva the Sanctified
• Sophia, the Wisdom of God ( XV century ). It is located in the central iconostasis. It features a great symbolism even in comparison with icons of the same type. For example, Wisdom in the Novgorod version has a red color, meaning the sacrifice of Christ.
• Tikhvin icon of the Virgin ( XVI century ). Located in the Christmas iconostasis. This icon was with Novgorod during the conclusion of the Stolbovsky peace . Reese on the icon is made to order of Princess Sophia .

In the cathedral there are always the remains of the saints: Anne , princes Vladimir , Mstislav and Fyodor , bishops Joachim Korsunian , Luke Jidiata , Nikita and Arkady and Archbishops John , Gregory , Martiria , Anthony , Basil Kalika , Simeon and Afony . Church attribution of the remains, according to the Soviet historian V.L. Yanina, does not correspond to historical reality ^[4] . Also in the cathedral you can see the tombstones of bishops of the XVIII — XIX centuries.

Magdeburg , aka Korsunskie gates - the name of the bronze doors of the original chapel of the Nativity of Our Lady of St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod; then these doors, restored by master Abram, were transferred to the western portal of the cathedral. For several centuries, the gate served as a solemn entrance to the cathedral. Currently, they open only during the holidays, when the service is headed by the Metropolitan of Novgorod and Starorussky.

On the cross of the central dome is the lead figure of a dove - the symbol of the Holy Spirit . According to legend , when in 1570 Ivan the Terrible cruelly dealt with the inhabitants of Novgorod , a dove sat down on the cross of Sophia. Seeing from there a terrible slaughter, the dove froze with horror. After the Virgin Mary revealed to one of the monks that this dove was sent to the city to comfort - and until he flies off the cross, the city will be kept by him.

On July 5, 1942 , during the shelling of the German commandant’s office by the Soviet troops, which was located in the Kremlin (according to intelligence information, the highest front command of the German troops was due to descend), the image of the Almighty Almighty (painted in 1109 ) in the central dome of the cathedral was destroyed frescoes in the drum, in some places the arches and the wall were pierced.

During the shelling, 80 shells were fired, 5 of which went to the cathedral. By order of the German command, according to a long-developed plan, many works of art were taken out of Novgorod to Pskov , Riga and Germany, among which were also values ​​from the Sofia Cathedral: iconostasis, mosaic tiles, etc. ^[5]

The main cross of the cathedral hung on chains on the orders of the city commandant was removed. The gold plating of the damaged dome was fired by soldiers for souvenirs, which were sent home (snuff boxes, dishes, etc.). At that time, the engineering corps of the Spanish Blue Division, which fought on the side of Nazi Germany, was located in Novgorod. The cross, as a trophy, they were taken to Spain . At the request of the governor of the Novgorod region to the Spanish embassy in Russia in 2002, it was found that the cross is located in the chapel of the museum of the Spanish Military Engineering Academy in Madrid . The rector of the cathedral of St. Sophia Cathedral, the archbishop of Novgorod and Starorussky Lev , received information about the whereabouts of the dome of the St. Sophia cross, during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin asked 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 hand over the cross of the St. Sophia Cathedral to Russia.

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  The original cross with a dove, crowning the cathedral before the Second World War

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  The central dome of the cathedral with a dove

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  Dove

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  Dove crowning the cross in the Soviet period

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 housed inside the Sofia Cathedral. By order of the Novgorod administration, an exact copy of the cross found in Spain was made. It is transferred to the Spanish side in return for the original. The cross, now located on the central dome, was made in 2006 and installed on January 24, 2007 .

Graffiti on the walls of St. Sophia Cathedral was discovered at the end of the 19th century. Stratigraphic and paleographic analysis indicate that more than half of Sofia Novgorod’s graffiti is dated to the second half of the 11th century - the beginning of the 12th century. In 1978, in the book by A. A. Medyntseva, 251 inscriptions were published, 10 of them are verbs, the rest are Cyrillic. By 2012, it was aware of 22 verb inscriptions ^[6] . In total, about 800 texts are known by 2014 ^[7] . The upper date of the graffiti drawings probably coincides with the time of the extinction of the tradition of scratching inscriptions on the walls. In Sofia, Novgorod, this border falls mainly on the XIV century. S. A. Vysotsky believed that Sofia Novgorod’s graffiti inscriptions have a more everyday character than the same material from St. Sophia ^[8] . Aleksei Gippius, the prophet of the priest of ravens, Yakov Lego, in relation to Khoten Nos, discovered in Novgorod Sophia, is a rare fragment of the oral poetic tradition that has come down to us in The Word of Igor's Regiment , in which the epic singer Boyan is called prophetic ^[9] .

• The Alekseevsky Cross , erected in Novgorod by Archbishop Alexy of Moscow in the 1380s, and possibly also a worship and memorial cross at the same time in memory of those who fell in the Battle of Kulikovo . He was abducted during World War II, then returned and placed in St. Sophia Cathedral. ^[ten]
• The tsar's prayer place , established by order of Ivan the Terrible , was made by Novgorod craftsmen for two years.
• The chandelier of the main dome, German work, donated by Boris Godunov .

• Mongay A.L. St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod in connection with the latest research // Architecture of the USSR. V. 10. - M., 1948.
• Brunov N., Travin. N. Sofia Cathedral in Novgorod // Reports of the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture. Issue 7, 1947, pp. 1-41
• Nikitina Yu. I. Sophia Cathedral. - 4th ed., Pererab. and add. - L .: Lenizdat, 1980. - 80 p.
• Rappoport P.A. Architecture of Ancient Russia. - L.: Science, Leningrad branch, 1986
• A. Komech. The Role of Limits in the Formation of the General Composition of the Sofia Cathedral in Novgorod // Medieval Russia: Sat. in memory of N. N. Voronin. M., 1976. P. 147-150.
• Yanin V. L. The Necropolis of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral: Church tradition and historical criticism / Academy of Sciences of the USSR, History of History; Retz .: A. I. Klibanov , A. P. Novoseltsev . - M .: Science , 1988. - 240 p. - 17 000 copies - ISBN 5-02-009468-4 .
• Mikheev S.M. Notes on the graffiti inscriptions of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral ( Part I , Part II ) // Ancient Russia. Questions of medieval studies . 2010. N3 (41). Pp. 74-84.
• articles from Sophia magazine :

1. Zherva A. Pages of the building history of Sofia Novgorod \\ "Sofia" No. 1 for 1999
2. Christmas T. Once more about the inscriptions on the scrolls of the prophets in the dome of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral \\ "Sofia" No. 2 for 1999 (not available link)
3. Stolova G. Their memory into the clan and the clan (To the tenth anniversary of consecration of the Novgorod Sophia Cathedral) \\ "Sofia" No. 4 for 2001 (not available link)
4. Savushkina N. Library of the Sophia Cathedral \\ "Sofia" No. 1 for 2004 (inaccessible link)
5. Tsarevskaya T. Cross of the main dome of the St. Sophia Cathedral \\ "Sofia" No. 4 for 2004 (inaccessible link)

• St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod // Museum of Orthodox Architecture
• St. Sophia Cathedral // "Russian City"
• On the wooden Sofia Novgorod // Novgorod.ru
• Spherical panorama of the interior of Hagia Sophia
• Hagia Sophia, Novgorod: icons, frescoes, literature // Icon-art.info