The Church of Our Saviour of the Transfiguration

To the east of the Rurik-Fortress, on Nereditsa Hill, lies a small village with a typically Novgorodian church on the outskirts. This is the Church of Our Saviour of the Transfiguration, built by Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich in 1198 and decorated in 1199. Its laconic and powerful architecture provided a characteristic example of the Novgorodian style of the late 12th century while its frescoes which formed a harmonious ensemble of a very high artistic merit belonged to the monuments of world importance. In 1941 the church was reduced to ruins by enemy shelling, and most of the frescoes perished. The existing building is a copy of the ancient church recreated after measurements made before the October Revolution and incorporating the extant parts of the church of the late 12th century. Fresco fragments have survived in the central apse, diaconicon and on the southern and western walls.