Novhorod-Siverskyi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Novhorod-Siversky | |||
|
|||
 |
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Ukraine | ||
| Oblast | Chernihiv | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 11.81 km² (4.6 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2001) | |||
| - Total | 15,200 | ||
Novhorod-Siversky (Ukrainian: Новгород-Сіверський; Russian: Новгород-Северский; Novgorod-Seversky) 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.
[edit] 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 literarure, 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). It was made a capital of a separate namestnichestvo in 1782–97. Thereafter its importance steadily declined.
[edit] Architecture
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).
|
||||||||||||||||||||
