Peryn

a site 4 km south of Novgorod, on a hill on the left bank of the Volkhov River, near the Volkhov’s outlet from Lake Il’men’. The name of the site is derived from the name of the ancient Slavic god Perun. When the site was excavated in 1951— 1953, a pagan sanctuary of the ninth and tenth centuries was uncovered. In the form of an eight-petal flower, the sanctuary was composed of a central circular area about 21 m in diameter, which was encircled by a trench with eight bow-shaped projections, in each of which a ritual fire burned. At the center of the circular area stood a wooden statue of Perun, dating from 988 according to chronicles, and a stone altar. After the introduction of Christianity, a monastery was built where the sanctuary had been; a stone church of the Nativity of the Virgin, built at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century, is still standing. Excavations near Peryn’ have uncovered the remains of a fishing village dating from the 12th to 15th centuries.