Veliky Novgorod in foreign works. XV - beginning - XX century

Located at the intersection of trade routes, Veliky Novgorod with antiquity was in the field of close attention of Europeans. Until the early XVIII century, in Europe, he knew more than any other Russian city, excluding that Moscow, and this information was reflected in numerous writings. The Europeans"s view was generally addresseten, they simply noticed the cultural differences of the Russians, all paradoxical, exotic, which was expected to expect from the people who considered the barbaric. But it is important for us that at the same time foreign observers paid attention to the phenomenon of everyday life, over which a person who lives this life is usually not thinking. Thanks to their testimonies, we can more review the weekdays of the Russian person of the past centuries, see the details, poorly distinguishable in the haze of time. And besides, it is always useful to look at yourself from the side.
Gennady Kovalenko - Candidate of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences