Novhorod-Siverskyi (, , , ''Novgorod-Severskiy''), historically known as Novhorod-Siversk () or Novgorod-Seversk (), is a historic city in

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

, northern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It serves as the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion () is a raion (district) of Chernihiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is located at Novhorod-Siverskyi. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of ra ...

, although until 18 July 2020 it was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to the raion. Novhorod-Siverskyi is situated on the bank of the

Desna River The Desna ( Russian and ) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in means "right hand". It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers .Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. It hosts the administration of Novhorod-Siverskyi urban hromada, one of the

hromada In Ukraine, a hromada () is the main type of municipality and the third level Administrative divisions of Ukraine, local self-government in Ukraine. The current hromadas were established by the Cabinet of ministers of Ukraine, Government of Uk ...

s of Ukraine. The city's population is

History

The town was first chronicled in 1044. From 1098 it was the capital of the Siverian Principality, which served as a buffer zone against incursions of the

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

(Polovtsy) and other

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

peoples. One of the numerous campaigns of local princes against the Cumans produced the great monument of early East Slavic literature, the

Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'' ...

. After the town's destruction by Mongols in 1239, it passed to the princes of

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

and then to the

Grand Dukes of Lithuania The article is a list of heads of state of Lithuania over historical Lithuanian state. The timeline includes all heads of state of Lithuania as a sovereign entity, legitimately part of a greater sovereign entity, a client state, or a Republics o ...

. It was ruled by Dymitr Korybut (Kaributas), son of

Algirdas Algirdas (; , ; – May 1377) was List of Lithuanian monarchs, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377. With the help of his brother Kęstutis (who defended the western border of the Duchy) he created an empire stretching from the pre ...

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

obtained the area following the

Battle of Vedrosha The Battle of heVedrosha (; ) was fought near the Vedrosha river, close to Dorogobuzh (then in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, now in Russia) on 14 July 1500, during the Second Muscovite–Lithuanian War (1500–1503). In the battle of Vedros ...

in 1503, but lost it to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

after the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

, when it submitted to

False Dmitry I False Dmitry I or Pseudo-Demetrius I () reigned as the Tsar of all Russia from 10 June 1605 until his death on 17 May 1606 under the name of Dmitriy Ivanovich (). According to historian Chester S.L. Dunning, Dmitry was "the only Tsar ever raise ...

in the

Battle of Novhorod-Siverskyi The Battle of Novgorod-Seversky was the first major battle of False Dmitry I against Boris Godunov. Prelude False Dmitry I crossed the border of the Tsardom of Russia in winter of 1604 commanding a mercenary army of Polish-Lithuanian noblem ...

. ''Nowogród Siewierski'' was granted Magdeburg city rights in 1620 by Polish King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa (, ; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Re ...

. It was the easternmost

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

(county) seat of Poland. The town passed to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as a result of the

Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) Armed conflicts between Poland (including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland) and Russia (including the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and the Principality of Moscow) include: : : ...

. During the Cossack epoch, it received the status of military company town (''sotenne misto'') and later regimental town (''polkove misto''); these were military and administrative divisions in the Cossack army and country. Also Novhorod-Siverskyi became a cultural center of

Left-bank Ukraine The Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of Kyiv and Cherkasy. Left-bank Ukrain ...

. It was made the capital of a separate

namestnichestvo A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

in 1782–97. Thereafter its importance steadily declined. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Novhorod-Siverskyi was occupied by the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

from 26 August 1941 to 16 September 1943. Until 18 July 2020, Novhorod-Siverskyi was designated as a city of oblast significance and did not belong to Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion even though it was the center of the raion. As part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Chernihiv Oblast to four, the city was merged into Novhorod-Siverskyi Raion. The city was occupied with Russian forces from 24 February to 2 April 2022. This caused a

humanitarian crisis A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster) is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or exter ...

in the city and forced many civilians to evacuate. Russian troops blocked the entrances and exits of the city with tanks, not even allowing ambulances. At checkpoints, local residents' phones were forcefully taken and broken. The city council destroyed documents related to the

Donbas war The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

participants to protect them from Russian troops. On 12 May 2022, the Russian army fired several missiles at a local school, killing three and wounding 19 people.

Architecture

Despite historic disasters, the town has preserved many architectural monuments, and a branch of the Chernihiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve had been established, which since 1990 has become a separate historical-cultural reserve named after

The Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'' ...

. The town has managed to maintain random planning in its landscape. The boundary of the town historical center remains vague. Tourist attractions are located on two high capes divided by ravines: the ensemble of and the town centre. The architectural monuments of state significance are scattered on five separate areas which compose the territory of the preserve. The biggest area is the territory of Savior-Transfiguration Monastery. The other areas are Dormition Cathedral, the wooden St. Nicolas Church, a triumphal arch, and shopping arcades. There are constructions and residential buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries in the town centre. The main point of interest in the town is the former residence of the

Chernihiv Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukraine ...

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

s, the monastery of the Saviour's Transfiguration. It features a Neoclassical cathedral (1791–1796, designed by

Giacomo Quarenghi Giacomo Quarenghi (; , ; 20 or 21 September 1744) was an Italian architect who was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of neoclassical architecture in Imperial Russia, particularly in Saint Petersburg. He brought into vogue an original mo ...

), 17th century stone walls, and several ecclesiastic foundations dating from the 16th century. Other landmarks include the

Cossack Baroque Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and European Baroque. History ...

Assumption Cathedral, a triumphal arch (1787), and the wooden church of St. Nicholas (1760).

Notable people

Igor Sviatoslavich Igor Svyatoslavich (3 April 1151 – ), nicknamed the Brave, was Prince of Novgorod-Seversk (1180–1198) and Prince of Chernigov (1198–1201/1202). Life The son of Sviatoslav Olgovich, prince of Chernigov, in 1169 Igor took part in the war agai ...

(1151–1202) - Prince of

Putyvl Putyvl (, ; , ) is a city in Sumy Oblast, in north-east Ukraine. The city served as the administrative center of Putyvl Raion until the administrative reform in 2018; now it is under the jurisdiction of Konotop Raion. Population: History One ...

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

, Novhorod-Siversk and

, main hero of the ''

'' * Lazar Baranovych (1620–1693) -

Ukrainian Baroque Ukrainian Baroque (), also known as Cossack Baroque () or Mazepa Baroque, is an style (visual arts), artistic style that was widespread in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the result of a combination of local traditions and Europea ...

poet and writer,

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

archbishop of

* Melkhisedek (Znachko-Yavorsky) (c.1716–1809) - Ukrainian Orthodox bishop * Barlaam Shyshatsky (1750–1821) - Ukrainian bishop of the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

Mykhailo Maksymovych Mykhailo Oleksandrovych Maksymovych (; 3 September 1804 – 10 November 1873) was a professor in plant biology, Ukrainian historian and writer in the Russian Empire of a Cossack background. He contributed to the life sciences, especially botany ...

(1804–1873) - Ukrainian historian * Konstantin Ushinsky (1823–1871) -

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

teacher * Panteleimon Kulish (1819–1897) - Ukrainian writer *

Dmitry Samokvasov Dmitry Yakovlevich Samokvasov (; 1843 — 1911) was a Russian archaeologist and legal historian who excavated the Black Grave in Chernihiv and several other sites important for the history of Kievan Rus. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Unive ...

(1843–1911) - Russian archaeologist *

Alexander Dmitrievich Mikhailov Aleksandr Dmitrievich Mikhailov (; 29 January O.S. 17 January">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 17 January1855 – 30 March .S. 18 March1884) was a Russian revolutionary, Populism, pop ...

(1855-1884) - Russian

narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

revolutionary * Mykola Kybalchych (1853-1881) - Ukrainian inventor and revolutionary in the Russian Empire *Zino Davidoff (1906-1994) - Swiss businessman, founder of

Davidoff Davidoff is a Swiss premium brand of cigars, cigarettes and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006. The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by Oe ...

cigarette brand * Volodymyr Pavlovych Naumenko (1852–1919) - Ukrainian politician, member of the

Central Rada The Central Rada of Ukraine, also called the Central Council (), was the All-Ukrainian council that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputies as well as few members of political, public, cultural and professional organizations o ...

Gallery

File:Новгород-Сіверський. Спасо-Преображенський монастир. Вид зі стіни монастиря..JPG, Savior-Transfiguration Monastery. View from the walls of the monastery. File:Новгород-Сіверський. Тріумфальна брама.JPG, Triumphal Arch File:Спасо-Преображенський монастир в Новгород-Сіверському2.jpg, Savior-Transfiguration Monastery File:Бурса, Новгород-Сіверський.JPG, House of seminary File:Новгород-Сіверський. Успенський собор..JPG, Cathedral of the Assumption File:Спасо-Преображенский собор, Новгород-Северский.JPG, Savior-Transfiguration Cathedral File:Новгород-Сіверський. Гімназія N 1.JPG, Women's gymnasium File:Покої настоятеля, Новгород-Сіверський.JPG, The museum File:Микільська церква (дер.), Новгород-Сіверський 002.jpg, St. Nicholas Church

References

External links

Novhorod-Siverskyi on the Official Tourism website of Chernihiv Region
(in Ukrainian, nice photographs)
Some of the sites at Podorozh Ukraïnoyu
(in Ukrainian, with pictures)
Forum
(in Russian, city info basically copied from the Wikipedia in Russian)
The murder of the Jews of Novhorod-Siverskyi
during

, at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...