Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyina Street

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour on Ilyina Street is a stone church of 1374 on the Trade Side of Veliky Novgorod, close to Yaroslav's Court. It is known for its frescoes by Theophanes the Greek, painted in 1378. No services are held here: the church is a museum of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1992.

History

A wooden church built under Bishop Nikita in the early 12th century once stood on this site. It kept the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign: according to tradition, in the winter of 1169/1170 the icon was carried onto the city wall and Novgorod held out against the besieging Suzdalians. In 1356 a separate church was built for the icon, and in 1688 it was moved to the neighbouring Cathedral of the Sign.

The present stone church was built in 1374, and in 1378 it was painted by the Byzantine master Theophanes the Greek. In the 17th and 18th centuries part of the painting was lost and whitewashed. Uncovering the frescoes began in the early 20th century and continued after the Second World War, and today part of the painting can be seen again.

Architecture

The church is square in plan, with four pillars, a single apse and a single dome. The facades end in trefoil gables under an eight-pitched roof. The exterior decoration is rich: applied crosses on stepped bases, inset crosses in round niches, and many small arches and niches. Inside, small chambers sit in the corners at the level of the gallery, and ancient stone altar tables have survived.

The church served as the model for the modern Church of the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer on Vereiskaya Street in Moscow, whose design won a prize at the international Faith & Form Awards for religious architecture.

Frescoes of Theophanes the Greek

The main thing to see is the painting of 1378. Christ Pantocrator survives in the dome, and the Virgin Hodegetria is painted above the west entrance. Upstairs, in the gallery, the Trinity chapel holds the fresco of the Old Testament Trinity. Inside there is a museum exhibition on the history of the church and its painting, with an interactive screen and an audio guide.

Getting there and practical notes

The church stands on Ilyina Street (listed as Ilyina 26a), a few minutes' walk from Yaroslav's Court, next to the Cathedral of the Sign and the Alexeyevskaya Tower.

The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday; Monday and Tuesday are days off, and the last Thursday of the month is a cleaning day. To protect the frescoes from damp, visitors are let in only in dry weather, so check the opening hours on the Novgorod Museum-Reserve website before you go. Admission is paid, free for children under 14 and some other groups.