Veliky Novgorod

Novgorod is eight and a half centuries older than St Petersburg. It appears in the chronicles in 859, and from 1136 to 1478 it was a republic with elected government and princes it could send away. The Mongols never took it, so buildings survive here that have vanished everywhere else. Its monuments are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

It was also the most literate city of early Rus. More than a thousand birch-bark letters have been dug out of its soil, among them shopping lists, love notes and the doodles of a boy named Onfim, who drew horsemen instead of letters.

The route

The drive. About two and a half hours each way, 145 kilometres. You are collected from your hotel or apartment.

The kremlin (Detinets). A fortress dating back to 1044, with towers, walls, a belfry and views over the Volkhov River. At its centre is the Millennium of Russia monument of 1862: 129 figures from Rurik to Nicholas I on a single giant orb. Ask your guide who was left off it.

St Sophia Cathedral. Built between 1045 and 1050 under Yaroslav the Wise, it is the oldest surviving church on Russian territory, with five domes and austere local masonry. Its bronze Magdeburg Doors are Romanesque work from the twelfth century. On the main cross sits a lead dove: legend says the city will stand as long as it does not fly away.

Yaroslav’s Court. Across the river on the old trading side, where the town assembly met and the market stood, merchant guild churches stand side by side.

The St George Monastery and Vitoslavlitsy. One of Russia’s oldest monasteries, founded in the 1030s, with its cathedral of 1119 near Lake Ilmen. Next door is an open-air museum of about seventy wooden buildings: churches, furnished peasant houses, mills and a smithy. The oldest, a church of 1539, was built without a single nail.

Good to know

• The trip lasts about ten hours, including the long drive.
• The car and tickets to the kremlin, St Sophia Cathedral, the St George Monastery and Vitoslavlitsy are included; meals are not.
• The tour can be booked privately or as part of a group.

Who it suits

Travellers with a week in St Petersburg who want to see where Russia began, lovers of medieval architecture and icons, and anyone curious about a Russian city that was a republic.