Discover Starorusskiy District

The history of its monasteries gives Starorusskiy District a distinct cultural focus. Two monasteries offer different perspectives: the Nikolo-Kosinsky Monastery, with its early founding history, and the Buregsky-Preobrazhensky Monastery, which includes the St. Nicholas Church. Nature and cultural themes of their own add to the experience in Novgorod Oblast.

Monastery history in Starorusskiy District

The Nikolo-Kosinsky Monastery was founded in 1220 by the monks Konstantin and Kosma from the Khutyn Monastery. The date and names give the founding story a concrete framework: it leads to two specific monks and the monastery they came from. For travelers interested in religious history, 1220 is a clear historical reference point.

The Nikolo-Kosinsky Monastery is now a convent. The relics of its founders, Konstantin and Kosma, are kept there. Thus, the two monks are connected not only with the founding of the monastery, but also with the relics preserved there. If the monastery’s current status matters for planning your visit, please check it in advance.

The Buregsky-Preobrazhensky Monastery stands in Buregi and is included in the list of historical and cultural monuments of all-Russian significance. The monastery’s St. Nicholas Church was built in 1736; today, only its walls remain. Here, the focus is on the date of a church building and the walls that have survived. This gives it a different historical emphasis from the founding story and present-day status of the Nikolo-Kosinsky Monastery.

Nature and culture in Novgorod Oblast

At the regional level, Valdai National Park covers 159,100 hectares and extends across the Valdaysky, Demyansky, and Okulovsky districts. Mount Ryzhokha is the park’s highest point. A 25-meter-high observation tower stands on the mountain, offering views of the taiga, Lake Velyo, and other bodies of water. The area gives a sense of the national park’s scale, while the observation tower draws attention to specific landscape views.

A circular trail in the Bor area passes through typical taiga forests on hilly terrain and through diverse wetlands in hollows between the hills. The route description names both the landscape on the slopes and the wetter hollows, without reducing the route to just one type of landscape.

Valday also offers cultural attractions. At the Bell Museum, staff demonstrate bell-ringing techniques that visitors can try themselves. The Bell Museum Center in Valday displays bells from around the world and examples spanning a long period: from the 3rd century BC through the Middle Ages to modern souvenir bells.

A different perspective is offered by the exhibition at the Museum of the County Town, which opened in 1998. It covers the daily lives of the town’s residents, the development of local crafts, and the lives of individual Valday families and well-known summer visitors. While the bell museums focus on objects and bell-ringing techniques, this exhibition turns its attention to people, work, and town life. In 2017, the monument “Kuznetsam i kolokolnym masteram Valdaya” was also erected in Valday; its name honors the blacksmiths and bell makers of Valday.

Discover more destinations: Lisyi Gorki, Nagatkino, Novgorod District, Chudovsky District, Chudovsky District, Marevsky District, Malovishersky District, Lyubytinsky District.

For the broader travel overview: Novgorod Oblast.