To the right stands the cathedral--a small, much-venerated church, which can make no pretensions to architectural beauty--and an irregular group of buildings containing the consistory and the residence of the Archbishop.

To the left is a long symmetrical range of buildings containing the Government offices and the law courts.

Midway between this and the cathedral, in the centre of the great open space, stands a colossal monument, composed of a massive circular stone pedestal and an enormous globe, on and around which cluster a number of emblematic and historical figures.

This curious monument, which has at least the merit of being original in design, was erected in 1862, in commemoration of Russia's thousandth birthday, and is supposed to represent the history of Russia in general and of Novgorod in particular during the last thousand years.

It was placed here because Novgorod is the oldest of Russian towns, and because somewhere in the surrounding country occurred the incident which is commonly recognised as the foundation of the Russian Empire.