The Church of the Nativity of Our Lady
Further on upstream the Volkhov are the premises of the former St
Anthony Monastery (1106), named after its founder and first
hegoumenon, who came to Russia from Western Europe. In 1117 ä 19
the principal church of the monastery, that of the Nativity of
Our Lady, was built on his money. Beginning in the 17th century,
the church underwent repeated alterations; low annexes were
attached, windows were splayed, a hip roof appeared, and huge
bulbous cupolas replaced the ancient helmet-shaped domes. In the
interior, arches were built in the northern and southern walls,
the choir with its windows pulled down, and new murals painted in
the 19th century. Unfortunately, the fragments of the 1125
frescoes surviving in the altar section and its anteroom, were
seriously damaged by the notches made to fix the new whitewash.
As the church was dedicated to Our Lady, it naturally brought
about the appearance of a cycle of frescoes depicting the Holy
Virgin. This is evidenced by the scene of the Prese ntation in
the Temple in the northern apse and a well-preserved, though very
small, fragment of the Dormition on the southern wall, and a part
of the Adoration of the Magi on the northern wall.