Description of the attraction
On the Sofia side behind the rampart, namely on Dmitrievskaya Street, there is the Church of Peter and Paul. The construction of the church was completed in 1406. The church is an amazing structure, which is notable for its completeness and maturity, giving the gaze a truly wonderful example of architecture characteristic of the 15th century.
The church is built of large rocks of limestone, and the largest number of decorative elements are made of bricks. The blades, cupola and vaults are made of bricks. According to the architectural type, the church is cubic, with one dome. The facades of the building have a three-bladed end as a continuation of the combination of the ceiling from the central corrugated vault with a pair of half-boxes. It is worth knowing that the Novgorod architects of the 13-15th centuries used half-box arches in the corner members, while the rest of the members, excluding the middle one, were box-shaped. This is how the constructive basis of all three-blade finishes was achieved.
The facades of the church building are especially finished and strict in proportions, and in the final areas they are accented with skillfully and laconically drawn brick ornamental masonry, the component motifs of which are found in the previously built monuments of Novgorod, dating back to the middle of the 14th century. They are belts carved from triangular depressions, pentagonal and round niches, curbs, rosettes, relief crosses and an arcature frieze. On the facade, located on the south side, a five-member composition has come down to us, consisting of three windows and a pair of niches between them; it is crowned with a five-bladed decorative edge. The apse of the church is beautifully decorated with vertical rods-rollers, which are pulled together by semicircular small arches.
The most important elements of the interior decoration of the building almost to the same extent repeated the traditional solution, which was developed in the second half of the 14th century. An important feature of the interior of the Church of Paul and Peter is the arrangement of the entrance on the floor not in the thickness of the western wall, which was most often used in the construction of Novgorod churches of the 12-15th centuries, but as a separate stone staircase, which was located in the northwestern part of the temple. It is this feature of the church that repeats the technique that was used by the architect of the famous church of Theodore Stratilates in 1360.
In the 18th century, a stone side chapel of the Three Saints was added to the south side of the church, and a little later, a small bell tower was added to the west side.
In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the church was divided into two floors. The western part had a choir, to which a staircase led in the north-western corner. The so-called sub-church or basement was allocated, and the church itself was located on the second floor, i.e. "In the hallway". Above the previously built ancient portal, which has a sharp shape, there is a portal, knocked out at the time when the temple was divided into two floors, and on its sides there were the remains of ancient painting: on one side the apostles Paul and Peter are depicted, on the other - the Angel, holding a sword.
Pavel Gusev, who analyzed these images, was based on the fact that the painting of Peter and Paul was executed with oil paint in the manner of a handicraft-pictorial style, and the painted Angel was made using fresco technique. The researcher concluded that the paintings were made at completely different times, because the image of the Angel belongs to the period of the 16th century. Based on what technique was used to paint the painting of Peter and Paul, located on the right side of the portal, Gusev dated not only the formation, but also the transfer of the temple to the upper floor in the 18th century.
The Church of Peter and Paul in Kozhevniki, erected on the banks of the Volkhv, with its eastern facade faces the river. A professionally drawn silhouette, well-chosen proportions and a well-chosen location still make this beautiful monument one of the most important components of the “eastern façade” located on the Sofia side of Novgorod. But at one time, namely during the years of the fascist occupation of the city of Novgorod, the church was badly damaged. In 1959, the temple was completely restored without changing the original forms.
