Novgorod Kremlin, Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God (Veliky Novgorod)
The Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God is situated in the western part of the Kremlin, right against the eastern facade of the Kremlin wall and the Intercession Tower.
It was first mentioned in the 1305 chronicle when a posadnik (eng.: mayor) Semyon Klimovich built a stone church upon the gates of Prusskaya Street (i.e. it was a gate church added to the wooden tower).
In 1389, by order of a posadnik Grigory Yakunovich, the old church was demolished and replaced with a new temple.
In the end of the 16th century, the Intercession Church was rebuilt; the timberwork of the monument dates back to this period.
In 1692 and 1693, the Church was reconstructed. New drums were made; new windows were cut; a southern two-storey annexe was built. All works were made under the design by architect Semyon Efimov. Since then, the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God had been one of the main Kremlin churches with a house church of Novgorod voivodes (eng.: generals).
In the late 18th century, the Intercession Tower was turned into a prison, while the Intercession Church became a prison chapel. It must be the time when a passage from the Church to the Tower was made.
In 1832, the temple was referred to the Church of SS. Florus and Laurus on the St. Sophia's side.
In the 1860s, the Intercession Tower and the Church were used as a province archives.
In 1889, the Tower and the Church were fitted out as an alms-house.
The southern side chapel of the Church is dedicated to the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, while the northern one to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
Before World War II, a wall-like bell tower with three spans, which has not survived, adjoined the Church from the south-east.
The monument was severely damaged during the War. The dome, the roof, and some of the masonry were lost.
The one-dome Church has one apse and no columns. The Church's rectangular volume is surrounded by side chapels from the south and north, and a refectory (a vestibule) from the west.
The central cubical part of the Church has an octagonal upon it, which is crowned by an octagonal drum with a dome. From the south and north, two annexes, the extensions of the side chapels, adjoin the refectory. Another two-storey annexe, which is parallel to the Kremlin wall, also adjoins the refectory from the south.
The facades look modestly. The Church's octagonal has flat pilaster strips in the corners, which are connected by straight ledges. Between the pilaster strips, there are big rectangular windows.
The Church is an architectural monument of two epochs, the 16th century and the late 17th to the 19th centuries.
It is the "octagon on square"-type church and one of few of this kind in Veliky Novgorod.
Chronicles of the 16th and 17th centuries mention a building that was constructed in 989, soon after the Christianization. The thirteen-dome church was made completely of oak and dedicated to St. Sophia. The church stood on the Volkhov River at the end of Yepiskopskaya Street, where the epic hero Sadko built the Church of SS. Boris and Gleb in 1167...
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