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The Kremlin (or Detinets, as it was sometimes called in the older times) was an administrative, social and religious centre. This is where veche gathered, elections were held, books were collected and copied, and events were recorded in the chronicles. You start seeing the red brick walls and towers of the fortress while standing near Gorodische (the old abandoned settlement).
Through the Kremlin goes a road leading to the pedestrian bridge which connects the Sophiyskaya and Torgovaya sides of the city, just like in the medieval times. From the eastern arch you can see Yaroslav Courtyard and St. Anthony monastery, and if the weather is sunny — Rurik's Gorodische and the golden spark of the bell-tower of the St. George monastery as well. One of the Kremlin towers, called Kokuy (derived from the Dutch word «koke» — «to look») is 34 meters high and offers an incomparable view over the city and its neighborhood.
St. Sophia Cathedral - one of the most ancient Russian stone constructions - was founded by prince Yaroslav the Wise, his son Vladimir and the archbishop Luka, as a public place of worship. This explains the fact that the church was dedicated to Sophia, meaning the Lord's Wisdom, the immensity of its size, and also the use of its southern gallery as a burial place of outstanding Novgorod citizens such as princes, archbishops and posadniks. Since the 13th century the cathedral was regarded as the symbol of the city. The original interior of the church has survived only partially. In the Martirievsky vestibule one can still see the images of St. Constantine and St. Helen, which date back to the 11th century and do not bear any resemblance to Byzantine frescos.
The Vladychnaya (Granovitaya) palata (1433) is practically all that remains of the once magnificent archbishops' residence. Its condition is typical to that of medieval buildings which have survived numerous reorganizations and repeated changes of the purpose of their use. Therefore, the fresco paintings decorating niches on the facades and walls of the hall itself, consist of both compositions on religious subjects ("Christ the Almighty"), and images of a purely decorative secular nature ("a plait" graceful flowers). For a long time, from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the Vladychnaya palata served only as a church. Nowadays it houses the museum stocks and the Exposition of the Old Russian Decorative, Applied and Jeweller’s Art
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Novgorod Kremlin
