Staraya Ladoga Staraya Ladoga Staraya Ladoga (); ; ) is a rural locality (a "selo") in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near Lake Ladoga, north of the town of Volkhov, the administrative center of the district. It used to be a prosperous trading outpost in the 8th and 9th centuries. A multi-ethnic settlement, it was dominated by Scandinavians who were called by the name of Rus'. For that reason, it is sometimes called the first capital of Russia. Dendrochronology suggests that Ladoga was founded in 753. Until 950, it was one of the most important trading
Staraya Ladoga House of Creativity Alexander Samokhvalov was in Staraya Ladoga many times in 1924–26. He took part in the restoration of St. George's Church. That experience gave a great deal to this artist: it helped him to understand the effect of joining a monumental painting with the architectural forms. He painted his "Staraya Ladoga" (1924) and "Family of Fisherman" (1926, Russian Museum) there. The restoring works continued 15 years since 1946, meanwhile Leningrad artists began to work in Staraya Ladoga since 1940s. Primarily artists stayed at the native country houses. The most popular was a house of an old woman Tatyana Egorovna, whose portrait