Malovishersky District offers two distinct starting points for a trip: the history of the estate and St. Catherine’s Church in Lzi, as well as alpine skiing and snowboarding at the “Mstinskiye Gorki” base in Gorodishchi. When choosing a destination, you can first consider whether cultural history or winter sports is your main focus. The wider destination of Novgorod Oblast offers additional cultural and landscape themes.
Manor History and St. Catherine’s Church in Lzi
At the beginning of the 20th century, the estate in the village of Lzi belonged to the engineer P. A. Boreyshe. A church dedicated to Saint Catherine the Great Martyr was also built in Lzi. It served as the family burial place of the estate owner, his wife and his daughter. Thus, in Lzi, the history of a named estate and the church’s historical function as a family burial place are connected.
St. Catherine’s Church is well preserved; remnants of frescoes can be found inside. Its dedication, its former use as a family burial place and the remnants of frescoes offer different cultural-historical perspectives on the same place. For travelers interested in sacred art and commemorative culture, this connection provides a distinct focus: it ranges from the church’s dedication to traces of its interior decoration.
Winter Sports in Gorodishchi and Kayaking in the Wider Area
Alpine skiing and snowboarding are offered at the “Mstinskiye Gorki” base in Gorodishchi. Equipment rental and instructors are also available. Before your trip, check whether the facility is operating and whether the services you want are available during your planned travel dates. This makes it easier to include winter sports as a distinct focus in your trip planning.
Kayaking is offered on the Msta in the wider region. This adds a different type of activity. Before your trip, check whether kayaking on the Msta is available; equipment rental and instructors are offered at the “Mstinskiye Gorki” base.
More Themes in the Wider Destination of Novgorod Oblast
Valdai National Park covers 159,100 hectares and extends across the Valdaysky, Demyansky and Okulovsky districts of Novgorod Oblast. This broad landscape context sits alongside the local themes of Malovishersky District. The district locations and area describe the national park at a regional level, distinguishing it from the place-specific cultural and activity themes in Lzi and Gorodishchi.
The following cultural themes also belong to the wider destination of Novgorod Oblast and are located in Valday. At the Valday Bell Museum, staff demonstrate bell-ringing techniques and let visitors try them for themselves. The Museum Bell Centre displays bells from around the world: exhibits include bell forms dating from the 3rd century BC to the Middle Ages, as well as modern souvenir bells. This offers two different ways to explore the subject: hands-on insights into bell-ringing techniques and a collection spanning a broad period of time.
An exhibition opened in 1998 at the Museum of the County Town explores the everyday lives of the town’s residents, the development of local trades, the lives of individual Valday families and Valday’s well-known summer visitors. The museum also preserves the memory of stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths, bubliki bakers, soap makers and bell founders. Its themes therefore range from everyday town history and individual families to specialized crafts. The monument “Kuznetsam i kolokolnym masteram Valdaya,” erected in Valday in 2017, also reflects the connection to blacksmiths and bell masters.
Valday’s waterfront promenade offers a view of the Iversky Monastery. This viewpoint complements the museum and craft themes with a specific perspective on the monastery.
Choose a Focus for Your Accommodation Search
When searching for a holiday apartment, you can first decide on the scope of your trip. Lzi and Gorodishchi represent local themes in Malovishersky District; Valday and Valdai National Park belong to the wider context of Novgorod Oblast.
Discover more destinations: Marevskiy rayon, Demyanskiy rayon, Soletsky District, Chudovsky Rajon, Okulovskiy rayon, Novgorodskiy rayon, Khvoyninskiy rayon, Valdaysky Rajon.
Back to the destination overview: Novgorod Oblast.
