Novhorod-Siverskyi

Novhorod-Siversky (Ukrainian: Новгород-Сіверський; Russian: Новгород-Северский; Novgorod-Seversky, Polish: Nowogród Siewierski) is a historic city in the Chernihiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Novhorod-Siversky Raion, and is situated on the bank of the Desna River, 330 km from the capital, Kiev, and 45 km south of the Russian border. Current estimated population: 15,000.

History

The town was first chronicled in 1044. Since 1098 it is the capital of Siverian Principality, which served as a buffer zone against incursions of the Cumans (Polovtsy) and other steppe peoples. One of numerous campaigns of local princes against Cumans gave birth to the great monument of early East Slavic literature, the Tale of Igor's Campaign.

After the town's destruction by Mongols in 1239, it passed to the princes of Bryansk and then to the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. He was ruled by Dymitr Korybut (Kaributas), son of Algirdas. Muscovy obtained the area following the Battle of Vedrosha in 1503, but had to return it back to Poland after the Time of Troubles. The town finally passed to Russia as a result of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667). During Cossack epoch the town got status of sotenny (means hundred) and later polkovoi (regimental) town. Such was military and administrative division in Cossack army and country. Also Novhorod-Siversky became a notional cultural center on the Left-Bank Ukraine. It was made a capital of a separate namestnichestvo in 1782–97. Thereafter its importance steadily declined.

Architecture

Despite historic disasters the town preserved a lot of architectural monuments and Branch of Chernihiv State Historical and Architectural Preserve was established here. The town has been managed to keep unchanged its landscape random planning. The boundary of the town historical center is vague. The tourists attractions are located on two high capes divided by ravines and which are Ensemble of Our Savior and Transfiguration Monastery and downtown. The architectural monuments of State significance are scattered on five separate areas which compose the territory of the preserve. The biggest area is the territory of Our Savior and Transfiguration Monastery. The other areas are Uspensky (Dormition) Cathedral, wooden St. Nicolas church, Triumphal arch and shopping arcades. There are constructions and residential buildings dated 18-19th centuries in the downtown while one fails to see big modern ones. The main point of interest in the town is the former residence of the Chernihiv metropolitans, the monastery of the Saviour's Transfiguration. It features a ponderous Neoclassical cathedral (1791–96, design by Giacomo Quarenghi), seventeenth-century stone walls, and several ecclesiastic foundations, dating from the sixteenth century. Other landmarks include the Cossack Baroque Assumption cathedral, a triumphal arch (1787), and the wooden church of St. Nicholas (1760).

External links

• Novhorod-Siverskyi on the Official Tourism website of Chernihiv Region (in Ukrainian, nice photographs)
• Some of the sites at Podorozh Ukraïnoyu (in Ukrainian, with pictures)
• Novgorod-Siverskyi on Sivershchyna Travel Guide (mostly in Russian, with a history of the city in English)
• Forum (in Russian, city info basically copied from the Wikipedia in Russian)