Novhorod-Siversky is a historic city in the
Chernihiv OblastChernihiv Oblast is an oblast of northern Ukraine...
(
provinceOblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
) of
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. It is the
administrative centerCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the Novhorod-Siversky Raion, and is situated on the bank of the
Desna RiverDesna is a river in Russia and Ukraine, left tributary of the Dnieper. The word means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. Its length is 1,130 km , and its drainage basin covers 88,900 km²....
, 330 km from the capital,
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
, and 45 km south of the
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n border. Current estimated population: 15,000.
The town was first chronicled in 1044. Since 1098 it is the capital of Siverian Principality, which served as a buffer zone against incursions of the
CumansCumans were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia...
(
Polovtsy) and other
steppeIn physical geography, a steppe is a biome region characterised by grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude...
peoples.
Novhorod-Siversky is a historic city in the
Chernihiv OblastChernihiv Oblast is an oblast of northern Ukraine...
(
provinceOblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
) of
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. It is the
administrative centerCapital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of the Novhorod-Siversky Raion, and is situated on the bank of the
Desna RiverDesna is a river in Russia and Ukraine, left tributary of the Dnieper. The word means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. Its length is 1,130 km , and its drainage basin covers 88,900 km²....
, 330 km from the capital,
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
, and 45 km south of the
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n border. Current estimated population: 15,000.
History
The town was first chronicled in 1044. Since 1098 it is the capital of Siverian Principality, which served as a buffer zone against incursions of the
CumansCumans were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia...
(
Polovtsy) and other
steppeIn physical geography, a steppe is a biome region characterised by grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude...
peoples. One of numerous campaigns of local princes against Cumans gave birth to the great monument of early
East Slavic literatureOld East Slavic, also known as Old Russian was a vernacular literary language used in 10th-15th centuries by East Slavs in the Kievan Rus' and states which evolved after the collapse of the Kievan Rus'...
, the Tale of Igor's Campaign.
After the town's destruction by Mongols in 1239, it passed to the princes of
BryanskBryansk is a city in Russia, located 379 km southwest from Moscow. It is the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast. Population: 431,526 .-History:...
and then to the
Grand Dukes of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until 1795. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the pagan Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija...
. He was ruled by
Dymitr KorybutKaributas, also known by his Rus name Dmitry, was one of sons of Algirdas and ruler of Severian Novgorod.Kaributas was born some time after 1350 to Algirdas of Lithuania and Uliana of Tver. Born a pagan, in 1386 he was baptised in the Orthodox rite and became the prince of Severian Novgorod...
(Kaributas), son of
AlgirdasAlgirdas or Olgerd was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
. Muscovy obtained the area following the
Battle of VedroshaBattle of Vedrosha was one of the greatest battles in the medieval history of Russia. It was fought as part of the Russo-Lithuanian Wars on July 14, 1500, some 50 km to the west of Kaluga, between joint forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Kingdom of Poland under command of Prince...
in 1503, but had to return it back to
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
after the
Time of TroublesThe Time of Troubles was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar Feodor Ivanovich of the Rurik Dynasty in 1598 and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613...
. The town finally passed to Russia as a result of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667). It was made a capital of a separate namestnichestvo in 1782–97. Thereafter its importance steadily declined.
Architecture
The main point of interest in the town is the former residence of the
ChernihivChernihiv, , also known as Chernigov , is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
metropolitanIn Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital...
s, the monastery of the Saviour's Transfiguration. It features a ponderous
NeoclassicalNeoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon Western classical art and culture...
cathedral (1791–96, design by
Giacomo QuarenghiGiacomo Quarenghi was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of Palladian architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg.- Career in Italy :...
), seventeenth-century stone walls, and several ecclesiastic foundations, dating from the sixteenth century. Other landmarks include the Cossack Baroque Assumption cathedral, a
triumphal archA triumphal arch is a structure in the shape of a monumental archway, in theory built to celebrate a victory in war, but often used to celebrate a ruler....
(1787), and the wooden church of St. Nicholas (1760).