The Gate Tower of the Trading Mart, 17th c. (Veliky Novgorod)

 tower, gate, UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed building / architectural heritage, 17th century construction

It is the only surviving building of the huge indoor Market complex dating back to 17th century. The indoor Market was built of stone in Veliky Novgorod in 1692-1700. The construction work was initiated by the province governor Boris Ivanovich Prozorovsky and carried out by Moscow architects Semyon Yelphimov and Goury Vakhromeev.
The Gate Tower functioned as an entrance to the indoor Market from the East. In the old literature the tower is referred to as the quarters of the prince's bodyguards or Yaroslav's tower. However these names have nothing to do with its history or intended use. The top of Gate Tower was originally decorated with a double-headed eagle which was replaced by a mace later.


Exhibition of Christian Antiquities. 11th - 19th-century Decorative Metalwork:
The exhibition is on display in three rooms of the Gate Tower. It showcases the most interesting and typical Christian antiquities from the collection of Novgorod Museum-Complex:
11th-15th-century items cast in copper, 14th-19th-century artistic churchware, items made in Old Believers' workshops in the 17th-19th centuries.