Monuments historiques de Novgorod et de ses environs

Brève description

Monuments historiques de Novgorod et de ses environs © Quinn Dombrowski

Description longue

Novgorod was one of the major centres of Russian culture and spirituality: its monuments and the treasures they house bear living witness to this. As an outstanding cultural centre, birthplace of the national style of stone architecture, and one of the oldest national schools of painting, the town of Novgorod influenced the development of Russian art as a whole throughout the Middle Ages. The broad range of monuments conserved in Novgorod makes it a veritable 'conservatory' of Russian architecture of the Middle Ages and later periods (11th-19th centuries). These monuments alone suffice to illustrate the development of Russian architecture.

The town of Novgorod, the earliest documentary reference to which dates from the 10th century, lay on the trade route linking Central Asia with northern Europe (Baltic and Scandinavian countries). The urban aristocracy that governed the city-republic through a People's Assembly (Vece) invited a prince from the Swedish (Varangian) dynasty of the Rurikids to reign over them. In the Russian world, only the cities of Novgorod and Pskov had this sort of organization, which was similar to that of the Hanseatic cities, with which Novgorod had close trading contacts.

The See of an Orthodox archbishop, Novgorod (like Pskov) was one of the oldest and most important centres of Russian art and, more generally, of Russian culture. The most ancient Russian Old Church Slavonic manuscripts (11th century) were written at Novgorod, including an autonomous historiography (as early as the 12th century) and, in particular, the first complete translation into Slavonic of the Old and New Testaments (late 15th century). Novgorod and Pskov were jointly the birthplace of Russian stone architecture and the first national schools of painting.

It was only after the conquest of the two republics (1478, in the case of Novgorod) by the Muscovite rulers that the present Russian capital acquired cultural supremacy.

In Novgorod itself, there is the district of St Sophia, which includes: the Kremlin with its 15th-century fortifications, reinforced in the 17th century: the church of St Sophia from the mid-11th century, and other monuments from the 12th to 19th centuries, monuments in the commercial district (including many of the oldest churches in the town, such as the Church of the Transfiguration, decorated with frescoes at the end of the 14th century by Theophanes the Greek, who was responsible for reviving medieval Russian painting and was the teacher of Andrei Rublev); and four religious monuments (12th and 13th centuries) outside the old town (including the famous church of Neredica).

Description historique

La cité de Novgorod, dont les premières archives datent du l0ème siècle, est située sur l'ancienne route commerciale entre l'Asie centrale et l'Europe du nord (pays baltes et scandinaves). L'aristocratie urbaine qui gouvernait la cité-république par le truchement d'une Assemblée populaire (ou Vece) fit appel pour régner à un prince de la dynastie suédoise {Varègue) des Rurikides. Dans le monde russe, seules les cités de Novgorod et de Pskov étaient dotées de ce type d'organisation, proche de celle des villes de la Hanse, avec lesquelles Novgorod entretenait d'ailleurs des rapports commerciaux étroits.

Siège d'un archevêché orthodoxe. Novgorod (comme Pskov) fut un des plus anciens et des plus importants foyers de l'art et, en général, de la culture russes. Les plus anciens manuscrits slavons (slave ancien) russes (XIe siècle) seront écrits à Novgorod - dont une historiographie autonome (dès le XIIe siècle) et, plus particulièrement, la première traduction intégrale en slavon de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testaments (fin du XVe siècle). Novgorod et Pskov sont les lieux de naissance de l'architecture russe en pierre et des premières écoles nationales de peinture.

Ce n'est qu'après la conquête des deux républiques (1478 en ce qui concerne Novgorod) par les souverains moscovites que la capitale russe gagne la suprématie culturelle.

La proposition d'inscription concerne non seulement les monuments anciens de la ville proprement-dite mais aussi quelques monuments des environs. A Novgorod même, il s'agit du quartier de Sainte-Sophie (le Kremlin avec des fortifications du XVe siècle renforcées au XVIIe. l'église de Sainte-Sophie du milieu du XIe siècle et d'autres monuments datant des XIIe-XIXe siècles), des monuments du quartier commercial (dont nombreuses églises parmi les plus anciennes de la ville. comme celle de la Transfiguration décorée de fresques à la fin du XIVe siècle par Théophane le Grec. qui fit renaître la peinture médiévale russe et fut le maître d'André Roublov), et. Enfin, de quatre monuments religieux (XIIe et XIIIe siècles) extérieurs à la vieille ville {dont la fameuse église de Neredica).