Церковь Бориса и Глеба, Orthodox temple in Novgorod Kremlin, Russia.
The Church of Boris and Gleb was a stone Orthodox church at the end of Piskuplya Street in the Novgorod Detinets, near the Volkhov. It was founded in 1167 by Sadko Sytinich and consecrated in 1173. Its foundations, uncovered in 1940, revealed a building of unusual size for 12th-century Novgorod, with carved limestone decoration and burials beneath the floor.
A wooden church first appeared in 1146, followed by a stone structure built from 1167 onward by Sadko Sytinich and consecrated in 1173. After repeated lightning strikes, the building was rebuilt many times until it finally collapsed in 1652.
The church kept the so-called clubs of Perun, which Novgorodians reportedly used in internecine fights; by order of Metropolitan Nikon they were burned in 1652. It was the spiritual centre of Prusskaya Street and is named in Yaroslav the Wise's charter on bridge paving as the end point of the street's paving duty. Scholars suggest it served as the veche church of Lyudin End and Prusskaya Street.
The building exists today only as an archaeological site within the Kremlin grounds, having not stood since 1652. Visitors can view the excavated foundations and stone fragments that offer insight into medieval building techniques.
The building was struck by lightning multiple times over its long existence, an unusual pattern of destruction for a single shrine. These repeated disasters eventually led to its permanent abandonment after the final collapse in 1652.
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