The temple was built at the order of the Novgorod boyars in the 14th century. This is a classic example of an architecture of that time, one of the most outstanding monuments of the medieval Novgorod. Rich decoration and the similarity in compositions of fresco shapes remind of the nearby Church of the Savior on Ilyina Street. You can feel the influence of Byzantine art of the 13th-14th centuries, and the master repeats the striking style of the famous Theophanes the Greek. The walls have preserved inscriptions-graffiti, including witty «don’t make noise, go quietly» and things like «Sawa went with me from the market, beat me, I wrote» or even the mysterious «Walking with the beaver nearby the river».
