Russia with your mind,
not with a yardstick,
for it has its own condition.
One can only believe.”
-horribly paraphrased from memory quote by Fyodor Tytmev (not sure spelling in English)
Saturday was our trip to Novgorod. We met fairly early in the morning at Kazansky Sobor, which is along Nevsky Prospect. It was weird to see the city so empty and clean in the morning, as most Russians had left the city for their dachas and the bums had been rounded up. I got to Kazansky a little early to see Ohara, Tania, and Alex sitting with two half drunk Russian men. I guess they had come over to talk to them, so I joined the group and one of the guys immediately starts speaking to me in French, thinking I looked French for some reason. They kept trying to get us to go to a restaurant with them and trying to get our numbers. Alex gave one of the guys a fake number, and I told him that I had a boyfriend in America, to which he responded that didn’t matter since he was in America (sorry Patrick). Svetlana’s face was priceless when she arrived and they started flirting with her too, calling her by her informal name (Sveta), to which she responded that she was married. They wanted to come to Novgorod with us and were asking how much it was. Svetlana managed to partially shoo them away, but as we were leaving I was given kissy faces along with more indecent and suggestive expressions. I love Russian men.
Here's one of the guys, Alex, and Tania:
The trip was a little over 3 hours from Petersburg, which isn’t that bad, unless you’re on an extremely cramped minivan like we were. The seats were so close together that my knees were pressed up against the seat in front of me, and so now I have bruises on my knees. Our driver was also a little crazy (speeding), which made the already crazy roads (narrow and bumpy) even more fun.
It was interesting to see another side of Russia, that of the country, which reminded me of places only 5-10 miles outside the limits of my own town (excepting the obvious Russian differences). It was a different world seeing small shacks and dachas with their broken spines squatting beneath heroic Soviet statues, insignia, and modern monuments that were still decorated with wreaths and flowers by those who live an existence that comprises different eras of Russian history—present, not too distant past, and also an ancient past that still exists somewhere out here.
Some pics from the way there.
There were no bathrooms on the way (of course) so we stopped along the road in this scenic meadow. You can see Sonya emerging from the meadow over to the right. I guess we looked pretty funny running through this beautiful field like something out of a romantic movie, even if we’d just come from going to the bathroom. Gorgeous.
The closer we got to Novgorod the more the landscape changed, becoming even more beautiful. After living a month in Petersburg, surrounded by hectic frenzy, high culture, imposing order and classical beauty, this place was quite a change of pace. I could take in views and landscapes I had only seen before in Russian landscape paintings—subdued and pale, not beautiful, certainly not sublime, not quite picturesque, but somehow comforting in their muddy browns and pale greens. While in Novgorod, in the wooden village, on our boat trip, and simply walking around I was able to see a lot of the landscapes that could be described as Chekhovian, and that consequently mimic Levitan paintings (as a Russian might tell you). Prosaic, subtle, simple, yet more than what meets the eye. Perhaps, despite all my desires for city life and high culture, I’m a bit of a country bumpkin at heart, as I felt such a sense of relief in the land. The skyscapes here are different from at home, somehow bigger, more vaulted (as you might get the sense of in the pictures to come), even if the forgotten fields and crippled homes are familiar to me from Maine.
Here are a few pics of the land and some Levitan paintings to compare.
Immediately after arriving, we dropped off our stuff at our hotel. Alisa and I shared a room. The hotel was really nice by Russian standards. The beds reminded me of the bedroom of something out of an I Love Lucy episode or out of a 50’s movie. So sterile, neutered, narrow. Haha. I love the little nightstand. It was so nice to be able to take a hot shower though after not having hot water for the prior couple weeks.
We ate some lunch and then made our way over the to the fortress. It was a beautiful day with the most delicious weather. The heat had finally broken, so it was cool, sunny and breezy, and the air reminded me of rural Vermont. The town was so different from Petersburg and so peaceful, that it was hard to imagine it having been the rich political, military, cultural, and economical center of Russia. Now it’s a small town of 200000 people.
Novgorod (meaning new city in Russian) has an enormously long and rich history starting in the mid 9th century. It was full of tribes from Finland and some Slavic chieftains who were constantly at war. In need of someone to rule the area with a fair hand and to bring peace, they hired in a Viking Prince (Rurik) from Scandinavia, who could also protect this wealthy city from various external enemies who had their eyes on it. Rurik’s dynasty lasted 700 years in Russia, after which the Romanov dynasty took over (300 years). After Rurik’s death his ancestors moved south and made Kiev the first capital of Russia (another very religious and beautiful city). Novgorod became the second biggest city to Kiev and there was constant fighting between the two, ending in the collapse of the Russia empire in the 11th century when Novgorod became partially independent from Kiev. So from the 12th till the 15th century there was a republic of Novgorod, about the size of present day France, with Novgorod as its main city. (Are you bored yet? At least my dad is probably enjoying this part…)
After this Novgorod became very wealthy from merchant trading (archaeological research has uncovered coins from all over the world, including as far away places as Africa). Seafaring merchants would often get stuck in Novgorod over the winter because of the river freezing, allowing another lucrative source of income for the townsfolk who could charge whatever price they wanted for food and lodging.
This enormous fortress wall was built in the 14th century. There was an older wall built of timber, but it of course burned down like much of this city did a number of times. In the past only boyars were allowed within the walls unless the city was under attack, when everyone would rush within the gates. The cultural center of the city also existed within the walls of the fortress. Now the fortress is called the kremlin (like the one in Moscow), a more modern term for fortress.
Novgorod has both a bloody and holy history, for example being the place of mass slaughter at the hands of Ivan the Terrible (who thought that Novgorod was forging a pact with Poland) who killed 25000 –60000 people here (or 2/3 of the population), with stories of people being fried in a giant metal pan and bodies filling the Volkov river, and then burning down the blood stained city remains.
At one point Germany came to occupy Novgorod for several years seeing as the front was across the Volkhov river. The Germans burned down much of the city, allowing only 48 medieval churches to survive (they’re not sure how many existed before), the wall of the fortress, and only 137 of 40,000 the Novgorodians survived. The rest were rounded up and murdered into concentration camps.
Speaking of history, this monument is fascinating, because it encompasses much of the history of Novgorod and Russia in general, but I’ll try not to talk too much about it because it might get dull.
An orb is of course a universal symbol of power, and the angel blessing the woman on the top is supposed to personify mother Russia being blessed. The groups of figures illustrate various important figures in Russian history and cultural and the direction they face is significant. Prince Rurik is in the middle there with the chief, who faces south because his family later moved there. Ivan the Terrible is conspicuously absent, as I’m sure you can understand why. There are too many figures to explain, but lots of authors are depicted on the lower level as well. There are 109 of these larger figures and a bunch of other cultural figures. Here is Peter the Great who is faces North, toward the Baltic Sea. The angel behind him personifies Genius, who directs his gaze.
Directly across from this monument is an art museum that has the best collection of icons in all of Russia, so we were able to see that on Sunday. In the front of the museum stand two lions. If you touch the tail of the lion to the right (when facing the museum), you are supposed to be blessed with a successful career, and the one to the left is for successful love. The tail of the love lion looked like it had been touched much more than the one for career. I followed suit, and it turned out my day was full of superstitious Novgorodian love rituals.
Love lion:
St Sophia Cathedral (above), the oldest church in Russian (1050) was under some restoration, so the façade is not as impressive looking as it might normally be. It used to be slimmer and taller, but the land of Novgorod has changed. It used to be more hilly, with the church on top of the highest hill so it could be seen from miles around. The ground, over the centuries, has been rising up more and more, so if you go in the church you can see where the ground floor used to be. The ground level has been rising because of ground leveling after the countless fires the city has suffered and also because of road building. Novgorod was actually the first European city to have paved streets, made of timber. These timber roads had to replaced every 25-30 years. Archaeologists have uncovered 29 of these layers and have discovered a lot about the history of the city from doing so. (If you’re interested in archaeological research, it’s ongoing here and a beautiful place to come to.)
The church was probably once of a red or dark color and with no trees surrounding it nor other building, so it could be seen easily from everywhere as an enormous landmark. The domes look like they’re made of silver, but are actually made of lead. Gold was later put onto the center dome and you can collect little pieces of it that have flaked off onto the ground. The architecture is simple, Byzantine.
I can’t show you the inside of the church because pictures are not permitted there. It was amazing though and very different from Orthodox churches I had seen up till then. The inside was very dark and smelled so fresh and calming. The walls were completely covered in frescoes/murals. The church does not have large windows like a Gothic church, and it is not very open inside, as the structure of the walls fills much of the space, giving it a more homey less exposed feeling. There were some 12th century frescoes up toward the top of the church that were interesting. The church also has amazing, amazing acoustics. They built into the walls these little holes with pots that can gather and project the sound, so that massive services can still be held here and everyone can hear the priest easily. There are certain spots in the church that are particularly good, where small choirs would be placed or priests.
The churches here were not built like many of the other Orthodox churches I had seen in Petersburg and were far different from any other churches I’d ever seen. The most recognizable feature of the Russian Orthodox churches is of course the onion domes, which are made to look like the flames of lighted candles but also have the more practical function of clearing themselves of piling snow. After being around the gaudy Church of Spilled Blood in Petersburg, which is surrounded by clueless and obnoxious foreigners buying overpriced souvenirs and being stupidly pressured into buying a 5th rate (if ratings even go that low) painting the same Russian “arteest” (yes you need to say it with the hard e) had been pretending to paint dramatically for the last week while schmoozing with the middle aged retirees trying to make it back to their cruise ship in time. The Church of Spilled Blood seemed like a cosmetic caricature of these Novgorod churches I was now looking at. Here are some pictures of the Church of Spilled Blood, which you might want to keep in mind when seeing more pictures of the Novgorod churches to come.
So we saw this very popular 12th century icon in St Sophia that was used in processions. It’s called “The Virgin of the Sign.” Mary has both her hands raised in a gesture that suggests both prayer and blessing. It was thought that this icon protected the city from destruction by invaders, when they attached the icon to the outside of the fortress wall. An arrow wounded Mary’s upper left eyelid, and it is said that the Virgin then began to weep and subsequently blinded the enemy, saving the city.
In the 16th century when the floors were raised because of the increasing ground level, they found several tombs of bishops and also a shrine of Russian princes from the 11th century. Neat stuff.
This door was pretty cool. It’s from the 12th century and was made in Europe (I think Germany). It represents the entrance into hell (in opposition to the paradise doors on the iconostasis in the church). If you look closely you can see the heads of people inside the lions’ mouths. The lion on the right represents a worse version of hell (one head in there) in which you suffer alone, whereas the lion on the left represents the better hell in which you can at least suffer with others.
This (below) is the leaning tower of Novgorod. It was built in the 17th century and only started leaning 6 or 7 years ago. Surprisingly my camera doesn’t make it look like it’s leaning all that much because I was determined to get at least one shot where buildings didn’t look like they were leaning and distorted (my camera is really annoying like that). Kind of funny that the one building that actually was leaning I managed to photograph properly.
Pictured below is the 26 ton bell that somehow was hung up in the white bell tower depicted above. (Confused yet?)People are still confused as to how this was accomplished, seeing as they cannot replicate it. If I remember correctly, the bell was built in anticipation of Ivan the Terrible, who was rumored to be headed to Novgorod. This monolith of a bell was rung in order to warn all the people of Ivan’s coming. It is said that the sound was so loud that Ivan’s horse reared in fright, even though they were still miles away. When Ivan finally sacked the city, he decided he would give a special punishment the creator of the bell by cutting off his ears, but since the bell maker was already deaf (from his vocation, of course) Ivan decided to cut the “ear” off the bell (the little arch on the top) so that it could no longer sing. Compare the bell on the right that is “earless” with the bell on the right.
This is Yuroslav’s court and market (above)where a lot of commercial activities took place. At one point there were at least 1500 shops here, more than any other city in Europe at the time. Everything was built of wood so there were many, many fires. There are 7 churches in this commercial center still, (and used to be many more), because of a law forbidding anything to be built of stone other than churches. Shop owners were getting tired of having their shops and storerooms burnt down, so they built churches instead and stored their supplies in them (sacrilegious, yup). Services would still sometimes be held in these churches (the supplies would be stored below) and the owners, in an attempt to absolve themselves of such a sin, would beautifully decorate their churches/storehouses and acquire icons and frescoes and whatever. They have a saying here based off of this dubious activity that goes “It is easier to cheat a man, but never the Lord.”
More pics from the market churches:
In the picture below of me in front of the church allows you to see the natural color of this limestone. The plaster has been removed due to problems with humidity (the temperature fluctuates enormously here from winter to summer). The dome is made of aspen. There is a story that goes along with this church that there was once a beautiful young merchant’s daughter who desperately wanted to get married but was having no luck. So she ran around the church three times counter clockwise late one night while no one was around, while holding the name of her beloved in her mind. This supposedly helped her in her wishes. So Ohara, Brit and I decided we’d run around the church as well for good measure. I told you there’d be more love rituals! You can see a worn out circle in the grass around the church where other girls have probably done the same. Haha.
This is I looking triumphant afterwards. Russia does strange things to my hair...
This (below) is an old mall/market place as well that was mostly destroyed except for this very Roman looking wall of archways that frame the river and the medieval looking fort across the way.
The love ritual with the church I mentioned with its mixture of pagan and Christian elements makes more sense when considering Novgorod’s relationship with Christianity. So 1000 years ago this city was converted to Christianity, before that they were pagan of course, having their own pagan idols and gods. When Prince Vladimir came to power in Kiev, he formed a close relationship with Byzantium (from where Russia got its version of Christianity), and attempted to introduce the Christian faith into Russia. Because Novgorod was such a strong city, they said no to Vladimir’s request that everyone convert to Christianity, being happy with their pagan gods. Vladimir subsequently sent soldiers here who burnt down the entire city, sending the people fleeing into the river, where a priest was waiting to baptize them in the water. Tricky tricky. So they were “made Christian” through this weird method of baptism, although many of the people still refused to accept it.
Vladimir sent troops back another two times (using a similar method) before he had any success in his efforts. It is said by people in this area that they were “converted with fire and a sword.” It seems like many people in this history of the world have unfortunately been converted that way, whether literally or figuratively. It is amusing that in time Novgorod became the spiritual center of Russia. So Christian churches were deliberately built over pagan temples and idols, and the old pagan Novgorodian religion became mixed with Christianity. And the two religions are still mixed in certain instances to this day, seeing as Russians are very obstinate people. For example, there is this certain holiday every year where you are supposed to remember the dead (it might be called Trinity Sunday, I can’t remember), and people go to the cemeteries and decorate the graves with birch branches, which they would then take home with them and keep there for protection until the next year (a pagan superstition). The ancient graves here are surrounded with little fences, and these would be opened on this holiday and members of the family would have a picnic including snacks and vodka on the gravesites. This is a tradition the Orthodox priests are still unable to break the people of. Haha.
In the afternoon/early evening we took a boat trip along the river Volkhov. It was very windy and cool on the boat and it was beautiful to see the Russian landscape and the many onion domes breaking through treetops. The river was this odd color that reminded me of tea and smelled much cleaner than the Neva. We were able to see the monastery form the boat and various unknown ruins.
Ruin type thing:
Alex and Lydia are in the back, and that's Brittany and I:
This (below) is from what was going to be a bridge, but construction had to be stopped at the start of WWI.
It was so nice to be out on the water and to smell Russia. The air here is so amazing and drinkable. It was neat to see these sometimes unnatural looking church tops against the trees here and the sky that seems more deep, distant, and sublime than anywhere else I’ve been.
After the boat trip we went and got some dinner at this soviet inspired restaurant. It was interesting to see left over soviet insignia on things here and to imagine how hard it must have been on this city to suffer through the anti religious Soviet regime.
In the evening we went back out to wander around the fortress and city, but we had to make sure we were out of the fortress before midnight, when they close the gates and let out the dogs to attack any loiterers or mischief makers (there are some expensive artifacts that must be protected).
We sat on the sandy bank of the river some, where we were once again approached by some Russian guys who tried to get us to go drink with them. This is Ohara and one of her newest Russian admirers.
To avoid the Russian guys, some of us made our way over to this strange looking monument built to commemorate the pyrrhic triumph over Nazi Germany (as it faces what was the frontline across the river). It seemed rather out of place in this city. It was very tall and placed somewhat apart from the rest of the fortress. Zach, Ashley, and I were brave enough to climb up on it (although both Ashley and Zach needed my help getting up because Ashley is a bit shorter and Zach is not flexible). We had a nice view of the river the arcing bridge that crosses it and the rest of Novgorod. It was also an amusing place to take pictures as you can see. Notice the horse crushing the swastika.
Ashley and I. My back was not happy with me for doing that, but at least it's not on the more broken side.
Part of the monument as well:
After climbing down we walked around the then empty and midnight sun stained facades of the churches and cathedrals. The evening was unbelievably beautiful, the most perfect weather, and with each breath you felt yourself as healthier and more alive. There was something primordial about Novgorod but at the same time spiritual, where you could almost feel the elemental flow of time pulse in the air, as if it were something tangible enough that you could dip your fingertips into it for a moment. I don’t know whether it was the godliness of this ancient land, or its bloody history that on more than one occasion made the yellow waters of the river run red, or some primeval presence of nature, or that heavy and winding current of time that suggested something older than myself, tsars, churches, Russia, Christ, and maybe even God. But all these elements seemed to live and commingle here harmoniously.
(that white blot is Joel)
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet. A bunch of us hung out in Mariya and Sonya’s room (our two Bulgarians) drinking cheap box wine that tasted like vinegar and watching really, really bad Russian music television, on which we saw a very sad looking Ricky Martin perform. You know you’ve hit a new low when you’re on Russian pop music tv.
And Sunday will be covered in a separate post. Congratulations if you’ve read this far!
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