Saint Sophia Cathedral Novgorod

St Sophia was built between 1045 and 1050 for Vladimir, son of Yaroslav the Wise, and it is the oldest church in Russia still standing and in use - older than anything in Moscow, Vladimir or Suzdal - a heavy five-domed building in stone and brick, plastered white, with walls of great thickness and small windows, in a manner that came from Byzantium and was already being adapted. The central dome is gilded and carries a lead dove, which local tradition says will bring the city's end if it flies away. On the western front are the Magdeburg doors: bronze panels cast in Germany in the twelfth century, showing biblical scenes with the makers' self-portraits among them, brought to Novgorod as spoils and reassembled here by a local craftsman whose figure was added. Inside are eleventh and twelfth-century fresco fragments and icons; the cathedral was damaged in the war and restored. It remains a working church.

What you actually see

• The 1050 building - the oldest standing and functioning church in Russia.
• The Magdeburg doors - twelfth-century German bronze panels taken as spoils.
• The dove - the lead bird on the central dome, with a legend attached.
• The frescoes - eleventh and twelfth-century fragments surviving inside.

When to go

May to September. One hour. It is a working cathedral, so services set access.

Honest expectations

An active church - dress rules apply, photography is prohibited and services close it. The bronze doors are opened only for major services; most of the time they are seen closed. The frescoes are fragmentary and dimly lit.

Nearby

The detinets walls are around it; Yuriev monastery is south along the Volkhov.