Church of the Transfiguration on Ilyina Street

The current building was built in 1374 and frescoed by Theophanes the Greek (Feofan Grek or Феофан Грек in Russian) in 1378.

Substantial portions of those frescoes still remain, including the Christ Pantocrator in the dome, a number of saints inside the south entrance, and The Old Testament Trinity in the western vestry, as well as others.

According to a famous legend, in 1169, Archbishop Ilya brought the icon out of the church and across the Volkhov River to the Detinets during a siege of the city by the Suzdalians.

It was kept in a museum during the Soviet period and is now housed in the Saint Sophia Cathedral where it is displayed just in front of the main iconostasis.

Thus, the clergy and the people, displaying icons and crosses, often met their archbishop there and then processed with him through the market and over the bridge to the cathedral and archiepiscopal palace in the Detinets.

The Church of the Transfiguration on Ilin Street, Novgorod the Great
The construction of the church is mentioned in the Illustrated Chronicle of Ivan the Terrible
The fresco of Christ Pantocrator in the dome, painted by Theophanes the Greek in 1378.