St Sophia's Cathedral was built between 1045-1050 within the Novgorod Kremlin (fortress). It is one of the first stone structures in northern Russia. Its height is 38 m. At first it was long, for during the nineteenth century the lower part of the building was hidden by a two-foot-wide [2 m] cultural layer. The cathedral was built by Prince Vladimir, the son of Jaroslav the Wise, and until about 1130, the city's main church functioned as the tomb of the Novgorodian princes. To the Novgorodians, St Sophia was like their city, a symbol of social power and independence.
A church with five kings looks simpler but less appealing than its example, the 13th St Sophia of Kiev. The exterior of the cathedral is marked by its splendor and splendor reflecting the memories of the previous Novgorod dynasty and the invincible power. In the 11th century it looked much stronger than it is now. The front of the building had large sculptures of large stones, unusually cut out of large flagstone and shell rock stones. In some places (especially on pillars), the wall was covered with mud, polished, painted to mimic white or stone-painted subjects, and lightly colored. As a result, the facade was not white, as it is today, but with a variety of colors. Playing with stones, decorative paintings and building materials of various textures developed simple thinking and brought good results.
The two-story porch extends from the south, west, and north sides of the building, with a staircase tower built on the northeast corner. The cathedral has three doors - south, west and north, where the west was the main purpose for the celebrations. The entrance gate is known as the Sigtuna Gate (mid-12th century); according to legend, it was brought from the Swedish city of Sigtuna in 1187. The second name of the gate is derived from the city of Magdeburg, where it was made. The two leaves are adorned with Biblical and evangelical scenes in a bronze statue. In the lower left-hand corner are some masterpieces by a masterpiece in Western Europe. The Latin text gives their names, Riquin and Weissmut. The little man in the middle - judging based on the Slavonic text - is an image of the Russian artist Avraam, who covered the gate.
There is also another copper gate in the great temple, called the Korsun Gate. Made in the 11th century in Chersonesos, Byzantium, it runs from the gallery south to the Princess-Chapel. Legend has it that the gate was passed on to Novgorod as a gift from Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054).
The interior of the cathedral is as glamorous as its exterior. It is divided into large pillars in five divisions, three of which end at the pillars of the altar. In the southwest corner, inside the tower, there is a wide spread of small, modest buildings of the 12th - 16th century.
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