The Novgorod Museum told how the city was landscaped in the Middle Ages
The Novgorod Museum-Reserve prepared a fascinating story about how medieval Novgorod looked and breathed. It turns out that this powerful commercial and political center of Ancient Russia was not just a cluster of wooden buildings, but a city with advanced infrastructure for its time, where streets were built, bridges were built and complex engineering networks were laid. At the same time, the reins of the city economy were largely in the hands of the citizens themselves. Novgorodians from an early age are accustomed to comfort. Already in the X century, the first wooden pavements appeared here. When the boards came into disrepair, they were not dismantled, but simply laid new ones directly on top of the old ones. Thanks to this approach, the streets have maintained their original direction for centuries. Archaeologists at the Nerev excavation literally unearthed history: they discovered twenty-eight tiers of pavements, with the lowest, oldest layer dating back to 953. The order was monitored by the residents themselves. The city was divided into five ends - Nerevsky, Lyudin, Zagorodsky, Slavensky and Carpentry. Each had its own self-government, and the residents of individual streets were united in communities, chose the elder and together solved everyday tasks. To avoid controversy, there was a strict “Bridge Charter,” which clearly assigned responsibility: who and what section of the street or bridge was supposed to keep in order. The heart of this system was the Great Bridge over the Volkhov, which connected the Sofia and Trade sides. It was not just an important crossing, but a real pulse of urban life, where trade was boiling and citizens gathered. But the Novgorod masters thought about what is hidden under the feet. Under the Yaroslavl courtyard, archaeologists found a complex system of wooden drains. Pipes were hollowed out of solid logs, and for reliability and tightness, the joints were tightly sealed with birch bark. This ingenious engineering idea for its time saved city blocks from flooding. Today about the everyday life of the ancient city we are told not only
The Novgorod Museum-Reserve prepared a fascinating story about how medieval Novgorod looked and breathed. It turns out that this powerful commercial and political center of Ancient Russia was not just a cluster of wooden buildings, but a city with advanced infrastructure for its time, where streets were built, bridges were built and complex engineering networks were laid. At the same time, the reins of the city economy were largely in the hands of the citizens themselves.
Novgorodians from an early age are accustomed to comfort. Already in the X century, the first wooden pavements appeared here. When the boards came into disrepair, they were not dismantled, but simply laid new ones directly on top of the old ones. Thanks to this approach, the streets have maintained their original direction for centuries.
Archaeologists at the Nerev excavation literally unearthed history: they discovered twenty-eight tiers of pavements, with the lowest, oldest layer dating back to 953.
The order was monitored by the residents themselves. The city was divided into five ends - Nerevsky, Lyudin, Zagorodsky, Slavensky and Carpentry. Each had its own self-government, and the residents of individual streets were united in communities, chose the elder and together solved everyday tasks. To avoid controversy, there was a strict “Bridge Charter,” which clearly assigned responsibility: who and what section of the street or bridge was supposed to keep in order.
The heart of this system was the Great Bridge over the Volkhov, which connected the Sofia and Trade sides. It was not just an important crossing, but a real pulse of urban life, where trade was boiling and citizens gathered.
But the Novgorod masters thought about what is hidden under the feet. Under the Yaroslavl courtyard, archaeologists found a complex system of wooden drains. Pipes were hollowed out of solid logs, and for reliability and tightness, the joints were tightly sealed with birch bark. This ingenious engineering idea for its time saved city blocks from flooding.
Today, not only pages of chronicles tell us about the everyday life of the ancient city, but also objects raised from the ground. You can see the original fragments of those layered pavements, things from everyday life and the work of local artisans in the exposition “History of Novgorod and Novgorod Land”.
