Saint Demetrius Church, Veliky Novgorod, Orthodox church in Veliky Novgorod, Russia.
Saint Demetrius Church is a stone church at the corner of Fyodorovsky Ruchey and Bolshaya Moskovskaya streets in Veliky Novgorod. Its south and east facades carry a band of brick ornament in the begunets and porebrik patterns. A detached bell tower stands 20 m to the south.
The church was first mentioned in 1261, when it burned on 22 November. The stone church was founded in 1381 on Slavkova Street and consecrated in 1382 by Archbishop Alexei of Novgorod in honour of Dmitry Donskoy's victory over Mamai at the Battle of Kulikovo. After a fire it was rebuilt in 1463 on the old foundations and in the same forms.
The church was consecrated in 1382 by Archbishop Alexei of Novgorod, with priests and the choir of Saint Sophia Cathedral, to mark Dmitry Donskoy's victory over Mamai at Kulikovo. Its side altars accumulated over time: the Beheading of John the Baptist in the 15th century, Boris and Gleb in the gallery, and Nil Stolobensky added in 1810. Since July 2012 it has belonged to the Novgorod eparchy of the Moscow Patriarchate, after a Old Believer community had requested it from 2005.
The church stands near the crossing of Fyodorovsky Ruchey Street and Bolshaya Moskovskaya Street, with the Church of Clement of Rome close by. The bell tower, about 20 m south of the church, is now a free-standing structure entered from its west side. The main entrance to the church was originally on the south side, where the old Moscow road ran between church and bell tower.
The detached bell tower about 20 m south of the church keeps its original form; its heaviest bell, cast in 1735, weighed 76 poods (over a tonne). Three small annexes added in the second half of the 19th century were later demolished, leaving the tower free-standing.
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