The Trinity Church
Beginning in the 16th century, the assimilation of Muscovite
forms and devices steadily increased in scale. A vivid example of
such assimilation is the Trinity Church (1557) of the Monastery
of the Holy Spirit, founded in the 13th century. It is located on
the site where Leningrad Street crosses the rampart. This is the
only building of the entire monastery complex that survives
today. The small two-storeyed church, adjoined by a single-pier
refectory, has three apses characteristic of Moscow temples, a
double-pier inner construction, quite unusual for Novgorod, and
five cupolas, instead of one. The central dome is provided with
four windows. The lavish, rather intricate decor of the blind
drums includes two rows of pediments; the facades abound in
detail but only the double-stepped pentagonal niches are a
tribute to Novgorodian tradition. The Trinity Church exemplifies
the type of structure in which features common to Russian
architecture as a whole prevail over Novgorodian ones.