In the novella “Mr. Veliky Novgorod,” the thirteenth century is depicted. Rus stubbornly rises from the ashes. Not long ago, Alexander Nevsky died, and Novgorod, in the terrible Battle of Rakovor in 1268, has to repel the onslaught of the Teutonic Order, which intended to settle accounts for a defeat not so long ago on Lake Peipus.
The novella by Dmitry Balashov introduces the reader to everyday life, existence, art, and all the spiritual and material order of the Novgorod people of the second half of the 13th century. It successfully uses and synthesizes a variety of materials from well-known excavations and studies by Soviet scholars—first and foremost A. V. Artsikhovsky and V. L. Yanin—who restored the authentic appearance of our ancient “veche” republic.