The history of Staraya Ladoga
Churches of Staraya Ladoga
Ladoga environs

The village of Staraya Ladoga of our days (the town of Staraya Ladoga from 1704, the town of Ladoga before that and Aldeiguborg even earlier) is a unique place remembering the history of Russia from its very beginning. So many epochs and intercultural contacts can be traced here in viewing innumerous wonderful pieces of archeological digs - treasures of Eastern silver coins, Mediterranean and Caucasian glass beads, Baltic amber, Frisian combs, bronze and ivory adornments and so on.

Ancient people settled here 3-4 millennia ago - in the late Stone Age, as some bone and stone finds witness. The first page of the history of Ladoga, the oldest Russian settlement in the northwest, was turned in the middle 8th century A.D. It was a busy place attracting potters, blacksmiths and tanners. A trading route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" passed here. Churches, monasteries, fortresses and private houses rapidly spread up.

The year of 862 A.D. was a special moment in the history of Russia when residents of Ladoga invited Ryurik, a Varangian, to become their prince Historians consider this date to be the beginning of Russian Middle Ages. Ladoga also played an important role in uniting the lands of Northern and Southern Rus'.

The center of the ancient town was located on the Ladozhsky Cape preserving the traces of three fortresses. The first one was erected by Prince Oleg Veshchy (the Prophet) on the turn of the 9th to the 10th century and destroyed by Eric in 997. The second stronghold was built by Novgorodian Prince Mstislav Veliky (the Great) in 1114. The latest fortress was erected by appointment of Ivan III in the 15th century when fire-arms were already in use. Two towers of the five ones belonging to the latest stronghold - the Klimentovskaya (Kruglaya - Round) and Vorotnaya (Gate) - are restored.

One of the local legends says that there is a secret door in the Tainichnaya (Secret) Tower with an iron bar, thick chain and safe lock and the golden coffin of Ryurik is hidden behind this door.

The "Sopky (Mounds)" tract considered a monument of pagan Rus' lies at the bend of the Volkhov River. According to a legend, the consolidator of Rus' Oleg Veshchy, terror of Byzantine tsars, was buried here in 922 A.D.

Six stone temples were erected in Ladoga between 1153 and 1166.

The Church of Sv.Georgy (St.George), "Ladoga bride" as locals call her, was erected in the fortress in the memory of the feat of arms (victory of Ladoga residents and Novogorodian warriors over the Swedes in 1164). The church was built in the 12th century but its white patterned walls are as beautiful and elaborate as in old days. Its interior is also richly decorated. A masterpiece of the medieval painting - the "Miracle of Georgy with the Serpent" fresco - is done following the Byzantine tradition. It portrays St.George taming the dragon with a prayer and the princess guiding the resigned monster on a lead.

The wooden Church of Sv.Dmitry Solunsky in the vicinity is also a unique structure. It was first mentioned as "a sovereign's construction" in 1646.

The Uspensky (Assumption) Convent is located to the north from the fortress. In the 17th century Tsarina Evdokiya Lopukhina, the first wife of Peter I, was cloistered here. One of the legends says that Evpraksiya, Mother Superior of the Convent, once found a vivifying spring in the nearby Abramovsky forest. The spring still exists and it might be its waters that make the number of long-livers in Ladoga so high.

The main sight of the Uspensky Convent is the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, the farthest to the north temple of pre-Mongolian Rus' and of the entire Byzantine tradition. As follows from the recent restoration headed by I.Voinov, it was erected in the 12th century. The blazon of Ryurikovichi, belonging to Prince Rostislav Mstislavovich who reigned in Novgorod in 1154, 1158 and 1159, was found on one of the arches. Chronicles don't mention any fact of construction undertook by Prince Rostislav appointment which points to the fact that this church was commissioned by local governor or his people. That might indicate that the Uspenskaya Church was originally a parish temple and not a convent one.

In the 19th century the Alekseevsky Parish Church of the Uspensky Convent was built in classical style. It was destroyed and is now being restored by the workers of "Volkhovsky Aluminy" JSC.

The Nikolsky (St.Nicholas) Monastery ensemble is located in the south of Staraya Ladoga. It is traditionally considered to be laid by Prince Aleksandr Nevsky "in the memory of perished relatives".

One more wonderful structure - the Church of Ioann Predtecha (John the Baptist) - was erected on the site of ancient pagan temple on Malysheva hill in the 17th century.

Ladoga and its neighbourhood deserve the name of oasis with their expanse of fields, wealth of woods, smell of blossoming trees and flowers and pure water of the Volkhov River and smaller rivers around. The names of villages surrounding Ladoga are very old - like Knyashchina, Nevazha or Lyubsha.

Ladoga was visited by many famous artists who pictured its beauty in their works. Orest Kiprensky, Boris Kustodiev, Ivan Aivazovsky are among the names. Nikolai Roerich wrote that "when seeing Staraya Ladoga, one is filled with feeling of home antiquity". Modern artists, like T.Kozmina, are as equally inspired by Ladoga charm.