Metochion of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign

In the early 18th century, Metropolitan Job established a women's almshouse for widows and orphans of clergy in the one-storey building adjoining the western wall of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign metochion. The old almshouse was dismantled in 1809 and replaced on the same site. In the second half of the 19th century, the institution housed up to 50 women from clerical families and was well regarded in the city, attracting, as contemporary accounts put it, “compassionate Christian donors and especially members of the higher Orthodox clergy.” Soviet rule radically changed the complex. In 1920, a detention house was moved “inside the enclosure of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign” and later became a night shelter. With “free boiling water, state lighting and heating,” it accommodated 40 men and 15 women. Its main residents were described as “exiled repeat thieves, burglars, and sometimes murderers,” as well as “persons without permanent residence or definite occupation.” Because of their reputation, the shelter soon acquired the unofficial nickname Gopka. The former almshouse was damaged during the Great Patriotic War, then repaired and converted to housing. Today it houses the Novgorod Center for the Organization of Archaeological Research and the base of the Novgorod Archaeological Expedition of Lomonosov Moscow State University.