Veryassko on the Lovat: History and Remembrance

Veryassko on the Lovat was a fortified settlement and is classified as a hillfort. A cemetery for Soviet soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War between 1942 and 1945 lies 900 m west of the village. These are two distinct themes for a history-focused stay: the fortified settlement of Veryassko and remembrance of the fallen nearby.

Veryassko and the nearby cemetery

The cemetery contains two mass graves. A rectangular brick stele bears a metal relief depicting a soldier and a star. Metal plaques name the fallen; a marble plaque displays an engraved portrait of N. P. Tyutyugin. The remains of fallen soldiers from a military burial site near Lipno were also reinterred at the cemetery. These features highlight different aspects of remembrance: communal graves, named remembrance, and a portrait. Access to the cemetery is difficult; take this into account when planning your visit.

Nature in Novgorod Oblast

A distinct regional perspective leads to Novgorod Oblast. Valdai National Park covers 159,100 hectares and extends across the Valdaysky, Demyansky, and Okulovsky districts of Novgorod Oblast. Its highest point is Mount Ryzhokha. A 25-meter-high observation tower stands on the mountain, offering views of the taiga, Lake Velyo, and other bodies of water.

The circular trail in the Bor area offers a different perspective on the landscape. It passes through typical taiga forests, across hilly terrain, and through diverse wetlands in the hollows between the hills. The tower and the trail offer different experiences: from the observation tower, you can look out over the taiga and bodies of water; along the trail, the changing scenery of forest, hills, and wetlands shapes the landscape experience. This lets you choose between a viewpoint and a route that takes in a variety of landscapes for your trip.

Valday: Culture in Novgorod Oblast

The cultural attractions in Valday are also part of Novgorod Oblast. At the Bell Museum, staff demonstrate bell-ringing techniques and let visitors try them for themselves. The Bell Museum Center in Valday displays bells from around the world; the collection spans examples from the 3rd century BC, medieval bells, and modern souvenir bells. This offers two distinct ways to explore the subject of bells: a hands-on experience and a collection spanning a wide range of periods.

Another perspective is offered by the exhibition at the Museum of the County Town, which opened in 1998. It explores the daily lives of the town’s residents, the development of local trades, and the lives of individual Valday families and well-known summer visitors. Here, the focus is on town life, work, and family stories. In 2017, the “Kuznetsam i kolokolnym masteram Valdaya” monument was also erected in Valday.

When looking for a holiday apartment, you can start by deciding on the scale you want to explore: Veryassko offers local settlement history and the nearby cemetery; the landscape and cultural attractions belong to the wider destination of Novgorod Oblast.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Mstinskiy Most, Anukhino, Toroshino, Petrovshchina, Staraya Russa, Bolshoye Voronovo, Korotsko, Berezovik

For the broader travel overview: Novgorod Oblast.