Discover Pestovo: Culture, History and Landscape

• Pestovo lies on the Mologa and on the eastern foothills of the Valdai Hills.
• The Gornitsa folk culture center, at the A. U. Baranovsky Center for Folk Culture and Leisure, displays ethnographic exhibits.
• The main tourist route is a two-and-a-half-hour bus tour to some of the town’s most important sights.
• The route includes a wooden residential house dating from 1878, churches and the area around the railway station.

The Mologa and the eastern foothills of the Valdai Hills give Pestovo two distinct geographical reference points: its riverside location and the hills. Together, they define the town’s landscape and complement its cultural and historical sites. If you compare destinations by theme, you can consider these geographical features alongside the local cultural offerings.

The Gornitsa folk culture center, at the A. U. Baranovsky Center for Folk Culture and Leisure, displays ethnographic exhibits. Folk festivals are also held there, and exhibitions of applied and decorative arts are organized. Its cultural offerings thus include folk exhibits, events and art exhibitions.

The churches are also useful points of reference: the Church of St. John of Kronstadt is the first Orthodox church in the town of Pestovo. The main tourist route also includes the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Mologa. Another historical reference is the Great Patriotic War, when Pestovo and its surrounding area became a frontline zone.

The main tourist route is a two-and-a-half-hour bus tour to some of the town’s most important sights. One stop is the oldest wooden residential house of the Lavrov-Nimenskikh priests, located within the boundaries of present-day Pestovo. The house dates from 1878, making it a specific historical point of reference within the town.

Other parts of the route include the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Mologa and the streets Zheleznodorozhnaya, Vokzalnaya and Pochtovaya in the railway station area. The streets are associated with the beginnings of the railway station and the early workers’ settlement. The tour therefore covers not only architectural and church history, but also the development of the area around the station. Confirm that the bus route is available with the operator before your trip.

A broader view of Novgorod Oblast takes you to Valdai National Park. It covers 159,100 hectares and extends across the Valdaysky, Demyansky and Okulovsky districts. The park’s highest point is Mount Ryzhokha. A 25-meter-high observation tower stands on it, offering views of the taiga, Lake Velyo and other bodies of water. A circular trail in the Bor area passes through typical taiga forests on hilly terrain and through diverse wetlands in hollows between the hills.

Valday also offers its own cultural attractions within Novgorod Oblast. The Bell Museum Center displays bells from around the world and their forms, from the 3rd century BC through the Middle Ages to modern souvenir bells. Staff demonstrate bell-ringing techniques and let visitors try them out for themselves. The exhibition at the Museum of the County Town, which opened in 1998, explores the everyday lives of town residents, the development of local crafts, and the lives of individual Valday families and well-known summer guests. These regional nature and culture attractions complement the information about Pestovo without conflating them with the town’s own features.

Discover more destinations: Ondvor, Simanikha, Malaya Vishera, Berezovik, Grigorovo, Krivoye Koleno, Anukhino, Korotsko.

How long is the main tourist route?

The main route is a two-and-a-half-hour bus tour to some of the town’s most important sights.

What does the Gornitsa folk culture center display?

Gornitsa displays ethnographic exhibits. Folk festivals are also held there, and exhibitions of applied and decorative arts are organized.

Which historic residential house is included on the route?

The route goes to the oldest wooden residential house of the Lavrov-Nimenskikh priests within the boundaries of the present-day town. It dates from 1878.

For the broader travel overview: Novgorod Oblast.