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One of the oldest cities in Russia, Novgorod was founded in 859 A.D. Located on Lake Ilmen, between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the city is similar to Rochester in geography, in the presence of numerous high technology industries, and in the attention given to the education and health of its citizens.
Also like Rochester, Novgorod is bisected by a river, the Volkhov, and is home to more than 218,000 people. Novgorodians are especially proud of their historic institutions that existed long before the ascendancy of Moscow. Hanseatic League merchants were trading in Novogorod by the 12th century. Composer Anton Arensky was born in Novgorod in 1861. The achievements of other early citizens in art and culture continue to be revealed through extensive archaeological discoveries.
In 1992 UNESCO added its chief monuments to the World Heritage list. In 1998, the city was officially renamed Velikiy Novgorod, recalling its medieval title “Lord Novgorod the Great”.
What is the sister cities committee working on?
Domestic Violence. домашнее насилие. In any language it’s a reality and a tragedy for thousands of victims, mostly women, but also men and children. In 2014-15, sister cities Rochester, NY, and Velikiy Novgorod, Russia, engaged in a year-long exchange on domestic violence (DV) in the United States and Russia. The exchange was funded by a US Department of State grant to Linkages through the US Russia Peer to Peer Dialogue Program. Linkages is the not-for-profit organization in Rochester, NY that has sponsored the sister city relationship in the US since 1990.
One of the results of the year-long exchange was the production of a video about domestic violence in both societies and about the project which was designed to increase understanding of DV and improve community supports to victims in both cities. The English version of the video was released in 2015; the Russian version was recently completed at the end of 2016 and is now ready for release. The project and the video are especially relevant at this point in time as the Russian Federation Duma (parliament) voted in January 2017 to decriminalize certain forms of domestic violence and the current administration in Washington considers defunding Violence against Women Act (VAWA) programs in the USA.
View Video in Russian
View Video in English
Download Project Summary as PDF