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Novgorod Architecture / The Gate-Tower of the Gostiny Dvor

The Gate-Tower of the Gostiny Dvor

Located at the St Nicholas Cathedral's western side there is a complex of buildings put up at different times. Opposite the cathedral entrance is a tent-roofed bell-tower, erected on a hexahedral foundation in the 17th century. Next to it, to the North, there is a 19th-century structure which, in turn, is adjoined by a massive tent-roofed tower with two passage-ways at the lower part. This tower, constructed not later than the 15th century, was long believed to house the Veche Bell. Recent investigations, however, have proved that it was the gate-tower of the Gostiny Dvor (bazaar) designed by Semion Yefimov and Jury Vakhrameyev in the end of the 17th century. Together with the arcade stretching along the Volkhov's right bank, it is the only reminder of the former Gostiny Dvor.