Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture

Squat cubic volumes, weighty domes, arcaded belfries and low porches give the churches of Pskov an unmistakable silhouette. Drawing on Byzantine and Novgorod models, the local school of building flowered along the Velikaya River in the 15th and 16th centuries and left its mark on Russian architecture for five hundred years; the oldest monuments of the group reach back to the 12th century. UNESCO added the churches to the World Heritage List in 2019.