Early developments The
Sofia First Chronicle makes initial mention of the city under the year 859, while the
Novgorod First Chronicle first mentions it under the year 862, when it was purportedly already a major
Baltic-to-
Byzantium station on the trade
route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Charter of Veliky Novgorod recognizes 859 as the year when the city was first mentioned. Novgorod is traditionally considered to be a cradle of Russian statehood. The precursor to the modern site of Veliky Novgorod is
Rurikovo Gorodische, located about a mile away, and it was founded sometime in the 9th century; The reliably dated archaeological layers of Novgorod date back no earlier than the 930s. The modern site of Veliky Novgorod is estimated to have appeared around the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries, or at the beginning of the 10th century. The name of the city, which literally means "new town", suggests that it was preceded by an "old town". The
Old Norse name is usually identified with the city. A wide range of explanations for the origin of the name have been proposed, including it referring to
Ilmensky gorod (a town on
Lake Ilmen), a town on an island (from
hólmr, 'island'), settlements in the
insularum regio (during the flood on the
Volkhov), and
Holm-gorod (a fortified settlement called
Holm).
Princely state within Kievan Rus' , a symbol of the city and the main cathedral of the Novgorod Republic In 882, Rurik's successor,
Oleg of Novgorod, conquered
Kiev and founded the state of
Kievan Rus'. Novgorod's size as well as its political, economic, and cultural influence made it the second most important city in Kievan Rus'. According to a custom, the elder son and heir of the ruling Kievan monarch was sent to rule Novgorod even as a minor. When the ruling monarch had no such son, Novgorod was governed by
posadniks, such as the legendary
Gostomysl,
Dobrynya,
Konstantin, and
Ostromir.
Yaroslav the Wise was Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1019, while his father,
Vladimir the Great, was a prince in Kiev. Yaroslav promulgated the first written code of laws (later incorporated into the
Russkaya Pravda) among the Eastern Slavs and is said to have granted the city a number of freedoms or privileges, which they often referred to in later centuries as precedents in their relations with other princes. His son,
Vladimir of Novgorod, sponsored construction of the great
Saint Sophia Cathedral, more accurately translated as the Cathedral of Holy Wisdom, which stands to this day.
Early foreign ties In
Norse sagas, the city is mentioned as the capital of
Gardariki. Many
Viking kings and yarls came to Novgorod seeking refuge or employment, including
Olaf I of Norway,
Olaf II of Norway,
Magnus I of Norway, and
Harald Hardrada. No more than a few decades after the 1030 death and subsequent
canonization of Olaf II of Norway, the city's community had erected in his memory
Saint Olaf's Church in Novgorod. The
Gotland town of
Visby functioned as the leading trading center in the Baltic Sea region before the
Hanseatic League. In 1080, Visby merchants established a trading post at Novgorod which they named
Gutagard (a.k.a.
Gotenhof). Later, in the first half of the 13th century, merchants from northern Germany also established their own trading station in Novgorod, known as the
Peterhof. At about the same time, in 1229, German merchants at Novgorod were granted certain privileges, which made their position more secure.
Novgorod Republic is one of eight ancient monasteries of the old Russian state
Novgorodian Rus' '' In 1136, the Novgorodians dismissed their prince
Vsevolod Mstislavich. The year is seen as the traditional beginning of the
Novgorod Republic. The city was able to invite and dismiss a number of princes over the next two centuries, but the princely office was never abolished and powerful princes, such as
Alexander Nevsky, could assert their will in the city regardless of what Novgorodians said. The
city state controlled most of Europe's northeast, from lands east of today's
Estonia to the
Ural Mountains, making it one of the largest states in medieval Europe, although much of the territory north and east of Lakes
Ladoga and
Onega was sparsely populated and never organized politically. One of the most important local figures in Novgorod was the , or mayor, an official elected by the public assembly (called the ) from among the city's
boyars, or aristocracy. The , or "thousandman", originally the head of the town militia but later a commercial and judicial official, was also elected by the . Another important local official was the
Archbishop of Novgorod who shared power with the boyars. Archbishops were elected by the or
by the drawing of lots, and after their election, were sent to the
metropolitan for consecration. While a basic outline of the various officials and the can be drawn up, the city-state's exact political constitution remains unknown. The boyars and the archbishop ruled the city together, although where one official's power ended and another's began is uncertain. The prince, although his power was reduced from around the middle of the 12th century, was represented by his , or lieutenant, and still played important roles as a military commander, legislator and jurist. The exact composition of the , too, is uncertain, with some historians, such as
Vasily Klyuchevsky, claiming it was democratic in nature, while later scholars, such as
Valentin Yanin and Aleksandr Khoroshev, see it as a "sham democracy" controlled by the ruling elite. In the 13th century, Novgorod, while not a member of the
Hanseatic League, was the easternmost
kontor, or
entrepôt, of the league, being the source of enormous quantities of luxury (
sable,
ermine,
fox,
marmot) and non-luxury furs (squirrel pelts). Throughout the Middle Ages, the city thrived culturally. A large number of
birch bark letters have been unearthed in excavations, perhaps suggesting widespread literacy. It was in Novgorod that the
Novgorod Codex, the oldest Slavic book written north of Bulgaria, and the oldest inscription in a Finnic language (
Birch bark letter no. 292) were unearthed. Some of the most ancient Russian chronicles (
Novgorod First Chronicle) were written in the scriptorium of the archbishops who also promoted iconography and patronized church construction. The Novgorod merchant
Sadko became a popular hero of Russian
folklore. Novgorod was never conquered by the Mongols during the
Mongol invasion of Rus. The Mongol army turned back about from the city, not because of the city's strength, but probably because the Mongol commanders did not want to get bogged down in the marshlands surrounding the city. However, the grand princes of Moscow, who acted as tax collectors for the khans of the Golden Horde, did collect tribute in Novgorod, most notably
Yury Danilovich and his brother,
Ivan Kalita. In 1259,
Mongol tax-collectors and census-takers arrived in the city, leading to political disturbances and forcing
Alexander Nevsky to punish a number of town officials (he
cut off their noses) for defying him as
Grand Prince of Vladimir (soon to be the khan's tax-collector in Russia) and his Mongol overlords. In the 14th century, raids by Novgorod
pirates, or , sowed fear as far as
Kazan and
Astrakhan, assisting Novgorod in wars with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. During the era of
Old Rus' State, Novgorod was a
major trade hub at the northern end of both the
Volga trade route and the "
route from the Varangians to the Greeks" along the
Dnieper river system. A vast array of goods were transported along these routes and exchanged with local Novgorod merchants and other traders. The farmers of
Gotland retained the Saint Olof trading house well into the 12th century. Later German merchantmen also established tradinghouses in Novgorod. Scandinavian royalty would intermarry with Russian princes and princesses. After the
great schism, Novgorod struggled from the beginning of the 13th century against
Swedish,
Danish, and German crusaders. During the
Swedish-Novgorodian Wars, the Swedes invaded lands where some of the population had earlier
paid tribute to Novgorod. The Germans had been trying to conquer the
Baltic region since the late 12th century. Novgorod went to war 26 times with Sweden and 11 times with the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword. The German
knights, along with Danish and Swedish feudal lords, launched a series of uncoordinated attacks between 1240 and 1242. Novgorodian sources mention that a Swedish army was defeated in the
Battle of the Neva in 1240. The Baltic German campaigns ended in failure after the
Battle on the Ice in 1242. After the foundation of the castle of
Viborg in 1293 the Swedes gained a foothold in
Karelia. On 12 August 1323, Sweden and Novgorod signed the
Treaty of Nöteborg, regulating their border for the first time. In the 15th century, Novgorod faced significant struggles with
food scarcity, which lasted for a decade in the mid-15th century. This scarcity had profound implications for the population and the city's stability during that time, including its downfall. Novgorod was a hub for trade, attracting German merchants in substantial numbers, around 200 German merchants resided in the trade city in the 1430s, comprising about 1% of the total population of Novgorod at that time. The interactions between these merchants and the local population contributed to the nature of Novgorod during that time, influencing its economic prosperity and cultural diversity. The city's downfall occurred partially as a result of its inability to feed its large population, making it dependent on the
Vladimir-Suzdal region for grain. The main cities in the area,
Moscow and
Tver, used this dependence to gain control over Novgorod. Eventually
Ivan III forcibly annexed the city to the
Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1478. The was dissolved and a significant part of Novgorod's aristocracy, merchants and smaller landholding families was deported to central Russia. The Hanseatic League kontor was closed in 1494 and the goods stored there were seized by Muscovite forces.
Tsardom of Russia At the time of annexation, Novgorod became the third largest city under
Muscovy and then the
Tsardom of Russia (with 5,300 homesteads and 25–30 thousand inhabitants in the 1550s) and remained so until the famine of the 1560s and the
Massacre of Novgorod in 1570. In the Massacre,
Ivan the Terrible sacked the city, slaughtered thousands of its inhabitants, and deported the city's merchant elite and nobility to Moscow,
Yaroslavl and elsewhere. The last decade of the 16th century was a comparatively favourable period for the city as
Boris Godunov restored trade privileges and raised the status of Novgorod bishop. The German trading post was reestablished in 1603. Even after the incorporation into the Russian state Novgorod land retained its distinct identity and institutions, including the customs policy and administrative division. Certain elective offices were quickly restored after having been abolished by Ivan III. During the
Time of Troubles, Novgorodians submitted to
Swedish troops led by
Jacob De la Gardie in the summer of 1611. The city was restituted to Muscovy six years later by the
Treaty of Stolbovo. The conflict led to further depopulation: the number of homesteads in the city decreased from 1158 in 1607 to only 493 in 1617, with the Sofia side described as 'deserted'. Novgorod only regained a measure of its former prosperity towards the end of the century, when such ambitious buildings as the Cathedral of the Sign and the
Vyazhischi Monastery were constructed. The most famous of Muscovite patriarchs,
Nikon, was active in Novgorod between 1648 and 1652. The Novgorod Land became one of the
Old Believers' strongholds after the
Schism. Novgorod continued to be a major centre of crafts which employed the majority of its population. There were more than 200 distinct professions in 16th century. Bells, cannons and other arms were produced in Novgorod; its silversmiths were famous for the
skan' technique used for religious items and jewellery. Novgorod chests were in widespread use all across Russia, including the Tsar's household and the northern monasteries.
Russian Empire In 1727, Novgorod was made the administrative center of
Novgorod Governorate of the
Russian Empire, which was detached from
Saint Petersburg Governorate (see
Administrative divisions of Russia in 1727–1728). This administrative division existed until 1927. Between 1927 and 1944, the city was a part of
Leningrad Oblast, and then became the administrative center of the newly formed
Novgorod Oblast.
Modern era On 15 August 1941, during
World War II, the city was occupied by the
German Army. Its historic monuments were systematically obliterated. The
Red Army liberated the city on 19 January 1944. Out of 2,536 stone buildings, fewer than forty remained standing. After the war, thanks to plans laid down by
Alexey Shchusev, the central part was gradually restored. In 1992, the chief monuments of the city and the surrounding area were inscribed on the UNESCO
World Heritage Site list as the
Historic Monuments of Novgorod and Surroundings. As of 2025, regular archeological rescue work continues across the site. In 1999, the city was officially renamed Veliky Novgorod (literally 'Great Novgorod'), thus partly reverting to its medieval title "Lord Novgorod the Great". This reduced the temptation to confuse Veliky Novgorod with
Nizhny Novgorod, a larger city to the east of Moscow. ==Administrative and municipal status==