Archaeological excavations at the site of the demolished Mytny Market on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street were conducted from early spring through 14 September 2026. The main phase of work concluded with a press conference at the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Information Center, where Alexey Sviridov, a research associate at the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented the findings.[1] The excavations became possible after a Soviet-era building was demolished in August 2026, exposing a cultural layer within the boundaries of the historic territory "Old Nizhny Novgorod" and the archaeological heritage site "Cultural Layer of the City of Nizhny Novgorod."[2]
Course of the Excavations
Work began before the building was fully demolished — while it still had its roof.[3] Specialists first sank test pits to assess the depth of the cultural layer and the condition of the foundations, then removed soil layer by layer using spades, trowels, brushes, and metal detectors.[4] Over three and a half months, approximately 900 square meters of the site were examined.[1] The depth of the cultural layer proved uneven: on the Bolshaya Pokrovskaya side it is approximately 1–1.15 meters, closer to Alekseevskaya Street it reaches 2.8 meters, and when subsoil pits are taken into account the stratigraphy approaches 4 meters in places.[1]
Finds
In total, approximately 1,200 storage units were collected, spanning the period from the turn of the 13th–14th centuries to the early 20th century.[3] The earliest layers date to the late 13th – early 14th century and are associated with the posad (settlement) beyond the Kremlin: traces of fence ditches and palisades, cellar pits, Ceramics, twisted glass bracelets, and fragments of locks and knives were found.[1] Artifacts from the 15th century are absent from the site — during that period activity here diminished and the urban center shifted toward what is now the Metro Bridge.[4]
The layers from the 16th–17th centuries are represented by storage pits, post structures, decorative stove tiles (including some depicting battle scenes with parallels in Kostroma and Moscow), scale coins, personal devotional objects, buttons, and elements of belt fittings.[1][4] From the mid-18th century onward, the ruins of brick foundations become visible; the building on the plot was repeatedly reconstructed through to the end of the 19th century, and is described in an 1878 guidebook as a stone structure housing a tavern, while the 1896 plan of the Mytny Dvor no longer lists it at all.[1]
One of the key finds was a well in the northern part of the plot, nearly 5.5 metres deep, with a well-preserved wooden crib lining; it was subsequently used as a rubbish pit into which waste from leather-working and animal bones were discarded.[4] Nearby stood a small brick structure tentatively associated with a tobacco shop.[1]
The later layers (19th – early 20th century) yielded remains of wooden pavements, asphalt surfacing, glassware, coins, jewelry, apothecary bottles, and a bottle bearing the marking of a mineral-water plant from Moscow.[1][3] Two collections deserve particular mention: approximately 120 lead trade seals reflecting the geography of goods supply (among them seals associated with Warsaw, Poland, and Germany),[1][4] and more than 300 Turkish-style smoking pipes — some brought from the south, others made by local craftsmen following foreign models; one pipe is fashioned in the form of a stylized female head, for which no direct parallels have yet been found.[1]
Results and subsequent fate of the collection and the site
After the completion of the main excavation phase, specialists continued monitoring the basement section in the southern part of the plot.[4] All artifacts have been handed over for cleaning, restoration, and cataloguing; upon completion of this work the collection will be transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve.[1]
The fate of the site itself remained uncertain at the time the excavations were completed. The regional Ministry of Urban Development had previously announced plans to construct a mixed-use building with retail space and a two-level underground parking garage.[1] However, a representative of the new owner (Pyotr Golovanov acquired the site from Vagan Bagdasaryan in 2024) stated that new construction had been postponed due to the economic situation; in the near term, the site is planned to be used as a parking lot, with the possible construction of a low-rise office center being considered as a longer-term option.[2][5]
Sources
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — An 18th-century well and Turkish pipes: what archaeologists found on the site of the Mytny Market (archive)
- Otkryty Nizhny — What will be built on the site of the Mytny Market and why archaeologists came out onto Bolshaya Pokrovskaya
- Vremya N — Coins, jewelry, and tableware found during excavations on the territory of the Mytny Market
- GIPERNN — Secrets of the past: what did archaeologists find during excavations on the site of the Mytny Market?
- NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Archaeologists begin excavations on the site of the Mytny Market in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)