What is in the old Russian. Resurrection Cathedral in Staraya Russa. How to get to Staraya Russa

One of the oldest Russian cities is Staraya Russa, whose sights attract tourists and are the pride of local residents.

There is still no exact data on the time of the settlement, but the first mentions are found in chronicles dated 1167, which was considered the official date of appearance Staraya Russa. There are several versions about the name of the city. One of them - on behalf of the Porusya River (formerly Rus), the other - in honor of the legendary hero Rus, who lived in this area and became the founder of the city.

So where is Staraya Russa? The city is located in the central part Novgorod region less than 100 kilometers from regional center, at the confluence of the Porusya River with the Polist River. You can get to the city from the regional center by bus (travel time is about 2 hours), by car, or by railway on the passing train Moscow -.

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The main attractions with photos and descriptions

There is enough here for small town attractions and iconic places. Some of them were especially famous in the past, but have lost their original grandeur in our time, others still attract tourists today. The city has museums, churches, cathedrals, temples, monuments, and even its own spa resort.

monuments

On the territory of the city there are sculptural compositions, most of which were significantly damaged during the German occupation. Many of them have been carefully restored and are of interest to tourists:

Churches

The city attracts both lovers of antiquity and pilgrims wishing to visit holy places. Many shrines have been preserved on the territory of the city, and believers are in a hurry to visit the Church of the Great Martyr Mina, and the Resurrection Cathedral, and the Church of St. George the Victorious, and the Transfiguration Monastery of the Savior, and other holy places. Let's talk about some of them:

The pride of Staraya Russa are other shrines. The Church of the Great Martyr Mina, founded in the 14th century, is famous for its ancient architecture.

The main values stored in it are the eight-pointed altar cross, the Gospel published in 1657, and the image of the Holy Martyr Mina.

Often tourists visit the Church of the Holy Trinity, the exact date of construction of which is unknown. During its existence, the shrine survived several destructions from fires and natural disasters, and was badly damaged during the war years. During this time, all church values were lost.

The building was restored in 1980.

Museums of Staraya Russa

City museums, of which there are many, are also attractions - and Starorussky local history museum, and the House-Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky, and the Center for Folk Art and Crafts "Bereginya", and "The Manor of the Medieval Rushanin" - cognitive and interesting excursions for children and adults.

Let's talk in more detail:

Historical fact: this house was Dostoevsky's first own dwelling. Previously, his family was forced to live in rented apartments.

Resort Park Staraya Russa

What else to see in Staraya Russa? Visit the spa park. In ancient times, the city was a center for the extraction of salt, but over time, the processes stopped, but mineral waters and mud remained, which have healing properties.

In 1828, Emperor Nicholas I agreed to the construction of a balneological resort. Mineral waters were used to treat skin diseases, gastrointestinal tract, respiratory system.

The first building was built on the site of the abandoned Peter and Paul Monastery, near salt lake. Initially, the patients of the new sanatorium were soldiers who needed treatment and recovery from injuries and diseases.

Over time, the resort acquired new buildings and gained wide popularity. The sons of Alexander II, M. Gorky, N. Dobrolyubov, F. M. Dostoevsky visited its waters. In 1882, with funds collected by professors of St. Petersburg University, who gave lectures at the resort, a medical children's colony was opened - the first such phenomenon in Russia.

The development of the resort continued after the revolution of 1917, the number of buildings increased, laboratories and diagnostic and treatment rooms appeared. Since 1925, the sanatorium has become year-round. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, in 1941, a military hospital was located on the basis of the hospital. But, after the retreat of our troops, with the arrival of the German invaders, the sanatorium was destroyed, most of the century-old trees in the park around the health resort were cut down, all water conduits, dams were destroyed, the dirt was washed out and oxidized.

After the expulsion of the Nazis in February 1944, the sanatorium began to be restored, and already in 1946 he was able to receive the first patients. Full recovery The resort was completed in the early 70s.

The main attraction and symbol not only of the resort, but also of the city is the Muravyov Fountain, named after Count Muravyov, who ordered to start drilling the well. Healing qualities are possessed not only by water, but also by the air around the fountain. Smoking near the source is prohibited.

Note: Muravyovskiy Fountain is the most powerful self-flowing mineral spring in Europe, reaching a height of 1.5 meters. In 2002, in the series "Ancient Cities of Russia", the fountain was depicted on a 10-ruble coin.

One of the methods of treatment is walking in the park, the air in which has healing powers. Special treatment routes have been developed for open areas exercise equipment installed. The park is located in the center of Staraya Russa, you can visit it all year round and for free. Currently, the resort continues to operate throughout the year. Everyone can receive treatment and improve their health - both adults and children from 4 years old.

A variety of sights and their history attract guests of Staraya Russa. Many tourists and guests of the city are happy to visit not only memorable places but also improve their health balneological resort. We invite you to look interesting photos Staraya Russa.

Today's Staraya Russa is a calm city in the Novgorod region, where there is little reminiscent of wars and fires, epidemics and terrible popular riots. Only the temples that miraculously survived... When the Soviet army liberated Staraya Russa, only temples remained here, towering over the scorched city. Nowadays, suffering deliverance from diseases travel to Staraya Russa: local mineral waters are able to put any patient on their feet.

BIRCH BERESTYAN HISTORY OF THE CITY

The first mention of Staraya Russa is contained in one of the birch bark letters discovered during excavations in the city.

Staraya Russa is located in the Novgorod region. The city stands at the confluence of the Polist River, its largest tributary - the Porusya River, which is called Pererytitsa in the city.

There are many assumptions regarding the origin of the name of this city. According to one of them, the word "Rusa" recalls the inseparable connection between the history of the city and the people of Rus, who gave the name to the entire ancient Russian state. Philologists also suggest that the name may be based on the hydronym "Porusya" - in the past the river was known as Rusa. The adjective "old" appeared in the middle of the 16th century, when the village of Novaya Rusa was built nearby. The double "s" appeared in the name after the 16th century.

The first annalistic mention of Staraya Russa dates back to 1167. However, Rusa was also mentioned in a birch bark document from the early 70s. 11th century

There is also a chronicle legend of the 17th century. "The Tale of Slovenia and Rus and the city of Slovensk", where the mythological version of the appearance of the ancestors of the Russian people is presented in an epic style. Among other things, it tells about the settlement of the environs of Novgorod and Prince Rus, the founder of the city of Rus: , and in his speech in his name Rusa, Izh is still called Old Rusa.

The city immediately began to grow rich and build thanks to trade (the city stood on the waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks"), crafts and mainly the boiling of salt from local sources.

It so happened that the city was at the crossroads of interests of various political forces during the period when the formation of Russian state, and the armies of the belligerents went through these lands every now and then, as a result, ups and downs in the history of the city were replaced by falls more than once.

Initially, the city was part of the Novgorod lands. In the XII-XIII centuries. Staraya Russa was attacked by the Lithuanian princes, in 1234 it was taken by the troops of the Livonian Order, but liberated by the townspeople.

In 1478, the Russian Tsar Ivan III annexed the city to the Muscovite state along with the Novgorod lands. In the XV century. in the city there was a state salt production (for the needs of the state treasury), which enriched the city even more.

By the middle of the XVI century. Staraya Russa, in terms of the number of inhabitants and the number of households, was the fourth in the Russian state after Moscow, Pskov and Novgorod. Then Staraya Russa was almost wiped off the face of the earth at the end of the 16th - beginning. XVII centuries, during the military campaigns of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and in the Time of Troubles: in 1608, the troops of False Dmitry II captured the city, and in 1611 - the Swedes. And only 38 inhabitants remained in the city, but by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the city was restored in the middle of the 16th century.

The city was twice visited by Emperor Peter and contributed a lot to the development of salt production and the timber industry: in the vicinity of the city, oak wood was harvested for shipbuilding.

1831 turned out to be terrible for the city: a cholera epidemic broke out here and a bloody "cholera riot" took place, when soldiers and townspeople killed officers and doctors, suspecting them of intentionally poisoning people.

During the Great Patriotic War for almost three years, from August 9, 1941 to February 18, 1944, the city was occupied by the Germans, it was badly destroyed, but subsequently rebuilt.

The city of Staraya Russa is located south of Novgorod, on the Priilmenskaya lowland, at the confluence of the Polisti with the Porusya River.

OLD HEALING SALT

Healing natural properties of salt mineral springs made the city of Staraya Russa a popular medical resort.

The townspeople prefer to call themselves Rushans (rusha-ne, rushanin, rushanka). This self-name is from hoary antiquity: it is known that the Transfiguration Monastery of the Savior was founded in the 12th century. local Martyrius, nicknamed Rushanin.

Staraya Russa is one of the oldest resorts Russia. As early as 1828, the capital's doctors began to recommend the local mineral water for treatment. For the convenience of wealthy patients, the first resort in central Russia was opened here, and it became fashionable to go “on the water”, and relatively close compared to the Caucasus or Western Europe.

There are nine mineral springs on the territory of the city, two of them are drinking, and seven are mineral lakes in the resort park, thanks to which a zone of increased air ionization is created. Thus, a specific microclimate is formed here, useful for the treatment of many ailments.

Also close to the springs are mud lakes, where sulfide-silt mud "Starorusskaya" with biologically active substances is mined.

The resort is famous not only healing power mineral waters, but also by the fact that here in different time outstanding cultural figures of Russia visited: writer and critic N. A. Dobrolyubov, poet K. M. Fofanov, composer E. F. Napravnik, artist B. M. Kustodiev, writer M. Gorky.

There are not only mineral waters in the land of Staraya Russa: excavations of archaeologists found that the thickness of the cultural layer reaches 6 m, and in the historical core of the city - on Seredka Square, where the accumulation of the layer began no later than the middle of the 11th century, 26 tiers of wooden pavement were found. The discovery that brought the city international fame is birch bark letters dated to the 11th-15th centuries, according to which not only the life of that era was recreated, but even the local dialect of the Old Russian language was studied.

Surprisingly, but true: the city almost miraculously retained its historical appearance despite many wars. The greatest damage to the architecture of Staraya Russa was caused by the Second World War: a lot of buildings burned down, out of 2960 residential buildings only three remained intact.

Most old monument architecture of the city - the Spassky Cathedral of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery, founded in 1192. The buildings of the monastery, dating back to the 17th century, have survived to this day.

In St. George's Church, the Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God is kept, revered by the parishioners as miraculous.

Nikolskaya Church of the XIV century. was set up by the townspeople largely for practical purposes: there was a market Square, and merchants - their own and visiting - needed the protection of the patron saint of trade, Nicholas of Myra.

Staraya Russa honors and remembers the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), who lived here in 1872-1875 and in 1880, coming with his family on vacation. The writer was very fond of Staraya Russa, and she appears in more than one of his works, albeit under different names. The house-museum of the writer stands on the banks of the Pererytitsa.

Every spring in Staraya Russa, the International Old Russian Readings "Dostoevsky and Modernity" are held, and every autumn - International Festival chamber performances based on the works of Dostoevsky.

CURIOUS FACTS

■ The Muravyov Fountain, opened in 1854 in the spa park of Staraya Russa, is a column of mineral water spouting straight from the ground.

■ At the resort "Staraya Russa" in the late XIX - early XX centuries. there was a resort theater, in which many famous actors of that time were honored to perform. Here, in particular, the creative path of the famous Russian dramatic actress V. F. Komissarzhevskaya (1864-1910) began.

■ In 2002, the Resurrection Cathedral of Staraya Russa was depicted on a Russian 10-ruble coin from the Ancient Cities of Russia series. The reverse of the coin depicts the coat of arms of Staraya Russa and the Muravyov Fountain.

■ Staraya Russa is in second place - after Novgorod - in terms of the number of birch bark letters found: there are 45 of them.

■ The living bridge over the Polist River retained its wooden covering, but was installed on stone pillars. It is called so because it was originally a pontoon and swayed when crossing.

■ The Museum of the North-Western Front is the only museum in Russia dedicated to one front.

■ Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, while in Staraya Russa, described the city in the novel The Brothers Karamazov under the name Skotoprigonievsk. In the house that has now been turned into a museum, Fyodor Dostoevsky also wrote the novels "Demons" and "Teenager".

■ Grushenka's House in Staraya Russa was named after Agrippina Menshova, the prototype of Grushenka Svetlova in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov,

■ The description of the coat of arms of Staraya Russa from 1781 accurately reflects natural wealth of the city: "... in the red field there is an iron frying pan in which salt is boiled, placed on a brick kindled stove, because in this city there are noble salt pans."

■ On the river Porusya there are more than forty settlements, but the largest is the city of Staraya Russa. Presumably, the last kilometer of Porusya before flowing into Polist is of artificial origin, and the channel of Porusya itself, called Malashka, goes to the right and disappears in the east of the city. Why and by whom Pererytitsa was created is not exactly known.

■ According to local legend, Prince Rusa, the hero of the Tale of Slovene and Rus and the city of Slovensk, the mythical founder of Staraya Russa, named the Polist River in honor of his wife Polina. There is also a simpler explanation: the word "polist" has ancient European roots and literally means "swamp, swamp, bog."

■ The Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God in Staraya Russa is the largest portable icon in the world: height - 278 cm, width - 202 cm.

ATTRACTIONS

■ Historical: ancient settlement Staraya Russa (XI-XV centuries), water tower(1909), a monument to the "Valiant Wilmanstrands" ("Eagle", 1913).
■ Natural: Spring "Life-Giving Spring".
■ Religious: Church in the name of the Savior of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1198), Church of the Great Martyr Mina (XIV century), St. Nicholas Church (Nicholas of Mirli-kiysky, 1371), St. George's Church (XV century), Church of the Holy Trinity (1680 d.), Resurrection Cathedral, Spiritual Church (Church of the Holy Spirit, 1797).
■ Architectural: Popov's House (late 18th century), resort park, "Grushenka's house" (XIX century), Living bridge.
■ Cultural: House-Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky, Museum of the History of the Staraya Russa Resort, Old Russian Museum of Local Lore, Museum of the North-Western Front.

Atlas. The whole world is in your hands №243

Description:

Staraya Russa is a city in the Novgorod region of Russia, the third in terms of industrial importance and size among the cities of the Novgorod region, one of the oldest resorts in Russia. Population 40.9 thousand inhabitants (2001). Staraya Russa is located on the banks of the Polisti and Porusya rivers. Highways and river routes pass through the city. local importance. There are nine mineral springs on its territory. Two sources - drinking, the rest, forming mineral lakes, create zones of increased air ionization in the resort park - a special microclimate that has a beneficial effect on patients with any pathology. Near the mineral springs there are lakes, from the bottom of which the unique "Starorusskaya" sulphide-silt mud with biologically active substances is extracted.

Staraya Russa is one of the oldest Russian cities. The first mention of it was found in the Novgorod chronicle under 1167. The city, which arose in the second half of the 10th century, developed thanks to the salt industry. In 1424 state-owned salt-making appeared in Rousse. By this time, settlements and bargaining had already taken shape, and rich merchants had appeared. The location of the city on the waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks" ensured its links with other countries. In the first half of the 15th century, 10 churches were built in Rousse, of which 5 were made of stone. The city was also damaged by the campaigns of Ivan IV the Terrible and the Time of Troubles. After the upheavals of the Time of Troubles, only 38 inhabitants lived in Staraya Russa instead of 8 thousand people. To restore Staraya Russa, the tsar issued a decree on the settlement of its inhabitants in other cities. Visits to the city by Peter I in 1693 and 1724 contributed to the improvement of salt production and the creation of a craft for harvesting oak wood for the local shipyard. In 1776 Staraya Russa was declared county town Novgorod province. Under Tsar Alexander I, on the orders of Arakcheev, military settlements were created in the Starorussky district; everything was under the control of the military authorities. In 1831, the county experienced a cholera epidemic and a "cholera riot".

The oldest architectural monument of Staraya Russa is the Spassky Cathedral of the Transfiguration Monastery. The monastery itself was founded in 1192 near the right bank of the Polisti River. At the same time, the first wooden temple was built. The complex of monastic buildings, formed in general by the 17th century, has survived to this day. The buildings of the monastery have been restored, fragments of frescoes of the 16th and 17th centuries are exhibited in the cathedral, and an exposition of the Old Russian Museum of Local Lore is located in the premises of the monastery. The Church of the Great Martyr Mina (14th century) is a small cube-shaped building with four pillars. Almost the entire height of the walls has been preserved ancient masonry of red shell rock. In 1371, the inhabitants of Russa placed near retail space stone church to the "patron of trade" Nicholas of Mirlikiysky. The Nikolsky temple was single-domed, but at the beginning of the 18th century it was rebuilt and made five-domed, and in the 19th century a bell tower was added to the church. Trinity Church was erected in 1680-1684 on the site of its predecessor, burned by the Swedes 72 years earlier. In 1865, the temple was reconstructed according to the design of the architect K. A. Ton. The Cathedral of the Resurrection (1692-1696) was erected at the confluence of Polisti and Porusya.

Staraya Russa - the city of Dostoevsky; this is Skotoprigonievsk from the novel "The Brothers Karamazov". Dostoevsky came to Staraya Russa in 1872, and for eight years this city was for him and his family permanent place recreation. On the bank of the Pererytitsa, under the canopy of willows, there is a house; it contains authentic things, documents and books that belonged to the writer. The novels "The Brothers Karamazov" and "Demons" were written in this house.

There is a museum in the city that tells about the history of the resort "Staraya Russa". The resort was founded in 1828 on the sources of therapeutic mineral waters and mud. In the second half of the 19th century, over a thousand patients were treated at the resort. Among them are the writer and critic N. A. Dobrolyubov, the poet K. M. Fofanov, the composer E. F. Napravnik, the artist B. M. Kustodiev, the Grand Dukes Vladimir and Alexei Alexandrovich. The beginning of the creative activity of the actress VF Komissarzhevskaya is connected with the resort theater. In July-August 1904, M. Gorky was treated at the resort. A park with lakes and fountains surrounds the resort buildings. Muravyovskiy Fountain, opened in 1854, is a ten-meter column of mineral water spouting from the ground.

BIRCH BERESTYAN HISTORY OF THE CITY

The first mention of Staraya Russa is contained in one of the birch bark letters discovered during excavations in the city.

Staraya Russa is located in the Novgorod region. The city stands at the confluence of the Polist River, its largest tributary, the Porusya River, which is called Pererytitsa in the city.

The first chronicle mention of Staraya Russa dates back to 1167. However, Rusa was also mentioned in a birch-bark letter from the early 70s of the 11th century.

There is also a chronicle legend of the 17th century. "The Tale of Slovenia and Rus and the city of Slovensk", where the mythological version of the appearance of the ancestors of the Russian people is presented in an epic style. In particular, it tells about the settlement of the environs of Novgorod and Prince Rusa, the founder of the city of Rusa:

“... the brother of the Slovenes Rus settled in the place of a certain distant Slovensk Velikago, like 50 stages from a salty student, and created a city between the two rivers, and called it in his name Rusa, and is still called Rusa Staraya.”

The city immediately began to grow rich and build thanks to trade (the city stood on the waterway "from the Varangians to the Greeks"), crafts and mainly the boiling of salt from local sources.

It so happened that the city was at the crossroads of the interests of various political forces during the period when the formation of the Russian state was taking place, and the armies of the warring parties went through these lands every now and then, as a result, ups and downs in the history of the city gave way to falls more than once.

Initially, the city was part of the Novgorod lands. In the XII - XIII centuries. Staraya Russa was attacked by the Lithuanian princes, in 1234 it was taken by the troops of the Livonian Order, but liberated by the townspeople.

In 1478, the Russian Tsar Ivan III annexed the city to the Muscovite state along with the Novgorod lands. In the XV century, state-owned salt production appeared in the city (for the needs of the state treasury), which enriched the city even more.

By the middle of the 16th century, Staraya Russa was the fourth in the Russian state after Moscow, Pskov and Novgorod in terms of the number of inhabitants and the number of households. Then Staraya Russa was almost wiped off the face of the earth at the end of the 16th - beginning. XVII centuries, during the military campaigns of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and in the Time of Troubles: in 1608 the city was captured by the detachments of False Dmitry II, and in 1611 by the Swedes. And only 38 inhabitants remained in the city, but by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the city was restored in the middle of the 16th century.

The city was twice visited by Emperor Peter and contributed a lot to the development of salt production and the timber industry: in the vicinity of the city, oak wood was harvested for shipbuilding.

The year 1831 turned out to be terrible for the city: a cholera epidemic broke out here and a bloody "cholera riot" took place, when soldiers and townspeople killed officers and doctors, suspecting them of intentionally poisoning people.

During the Great Patriotic War for almost three years, from August 9, 1941 to February 18, 1944, the city was occupied by the Germans, it was badly destroyed, but subsequently rebuilt.

OLD HEALING SALT
The healing natural properties of salty mineral springs have made the city of Staraya Russa a popular medical resort.

The townspeople prefer to call themselves Rushans (Rushans, Rushanin, Rushanka). This self-name is from hoary antiquity: it is known that the Transfiguration Monastery of the Savior was founded in the 12th century by a local resident Martiry, nicknamed Rushanin.

Staraya Russa is one of the oldest resorts. As early as 1828, doctors from the capital began to recommend the local mineral water for treatment. For the convenience of wealthy patients, the first resort in central Russia was opened here, and it became fashionable to go “on the water”, and relatively close compared to the Caucasus or Western Europe.

Also, not far from the springs there are mud lakes, where sulfide-silt mud "Starorusskaya" with biologically active substances is mined.

The resort is famous not only for the healing power of mineral waters, but also for the fact that prominent figures of Russian culture visited it at different times: writer and critic N. A. Dobrolyubov, poet K. M. Fofanov, composer E. F. Napravnik, artist B. M. Kustodiev, writer M. Gorky.

There are not only mineral waters in the land of Staraya Russa: excavations of archaeologists found that the thickness of the cultural layer reaches 6 meters, and in the historical core of the city - on Seredki Square, where the accumulation of the layer began no later than the middle of the 11th century, 26 tiers of wooden pavement were found. The discovery that brought the city international fame is birch bark letters dating back to the 11th-15th centuries, according to which not only the life of that era was recreated, but even the local dialect of the Old Russian language was studied.

Surprisingly, it is a fact: the city almost miraculously retained its historical appearance, despite many wars. The Second World War caused the greatest damage to the architecture of Staraya Russa: many buildings burned down, only three out of 2960 residential buildings remained intact.

The oldest architectural monument of the city is the Spassky Cathedral of the Transfiguration Monastery, founded in 1192. Monastery buildings related to XVII century have survived to this day.

In St. George's Church, the Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God is kept, revered by the parishioners as miraculous.

The 14th century Nikolskaya Church was set up by the townspeople largely for practical purposes: there was a market square nearby, and merchants - both their own and visiting ones - needed the protection of the patron saint of trade, Nicholas of Myra.

Staraya Russa honors and remembers the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), who lived here in 1872-1875 and in 1880, coming to rest with his family. The writer was very fond of Staraya Russa, and she appears in more than one of his works, albeit under different names. The house-museum of the writer stands on the banks of the Pererytitsa.

Every spring, Staraya Russa hosts the International Old Russian Readings “Dostoevsky and Modernity”, and every autumn the International Festival of Chamber Performances based on Dostoevsky’s works.

ATTRACTIONS

Historical:

Settlement Staraya Russa (XI-XV centuries).
Water tower (1909).
Monument to the "Valiant Wilmanstrands" ("Eagle", 1913).

Natural:

Spring "Life-giving source".

Iconic:

Church in the name of the Savior of the Transfiguration of the Lord (1198).
Church of the Great Martyr Mina (XIV century).
St. Nicholas Church (Nicholas of Myra, 1371).
St. George's Church (XV century).
Church of the Holy Trinity (1680).
Resurrection Cathedral.
Spiritual Church (Church of the Holy Spirit, 1797).

Architectural:

Popov's house (late 18th century).
Resort park.
"Grushenka's House" (XIX century).
Living bridge.

Cultural:

House-Museum of F. M. Dostoevsky.
Museum of the history of the resort "Staraya Russa".
Old Russian Museum of Local Lore.
Museum of the Northwestern Front.

CURIOUS FACTS

There are more than forty settlements on the Porusya River, but the largest is the city of Staraya Russa. Presumably, the last kilometer of Porusya before flowing into Polist is of artificial origin, and the channel of Porusya itself, called Mapashka, goes to the right and disappears in the east of the city. Why and by whom Pererytitsa was created is not exactly known.

According to local legend, the Polist River was named after Prince Rusa, the hero of The Tale of Slovene and Rus and the City of Slovensk, the mythical founder of Staraya Russa, in honor of his wife Polina. There is also a simpler explanation: the word "polist" has ancient European roots and literally means "swamp, swamp, bog."

The Old Russian Icon of the Mother of God in Staraya Russa is the largest portable icon in the world: height - 278 cm, width - 202 cm.
Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, while in Staraya Russa, described the city in the novel The Brothers Karamazov under the name Skotoprigonievsk. In the house that has now been turned into a museum, Fyodor Dostoevsky also wrote the novels "Demons" and "Teenager".

The “Grushenka House” in Staraya Russa was named after Agrippina Menshova, the prototype of Grushenka Svetlova in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov.

The description of the coat of arms of Staraya Russa from 1781 accurately reflects the natural wealth of the city: “... in the red field there is an iron pan in which salt is boiled, placed on a brick fired oven, because in this city there are noble salt pans.”

GENERAL INFORMATION