Book L.I. Lifshits is dedicated to the monumental painting of Novgorod XIV-XV centuries. Novgorod is not accidentally called "Russian Florence." Once a powerful city, the center of a huge feudal republic was decorated with dozens of temples painted with frescoes. The creators of these paintings were mainly local masters who maintained close contacts with Moscow, Constantinople, and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. The great Byzantine artist Theophan the Greek worked in Novgorod, who painted the Church of the Savior on Ilyin in 1378; there is reason to think that along with local artists, newcomers Serbian masters took part in the painting of a number of temples.