Talk:Novigrad/@comment-104.3.66.45-20160202070026

Novigrad is definitely not based on the Russian city of Novgorod or some Croatian town just because they share close names.

In most Slavic languages, (Russian, Polish, etc.) the adjective Novi (masculine) or Nova (feminine) means "new." Grad, or in some languages Ogrod, means "city." Really a generic name for a town. The Witcher simply takes a lot of inspiration from the Slavic vernacular, most notably in written language; the writing in the Witcher universe is distinctly similar to Cyrillic texts such as Old Church Slavonic.

The city of Novigrad in the Witcher is based off the port city of Danzig (now known as Gdańsk), which lies in modern day Poland on the Baltic Sea. Throughout most of history it was either a Free City or a part of Prussia or an indirect Polish dependancy. But it was a German city, through it's culture, language, and heritage, but with strong foreign influences. An almost exact replica of the famous Żuraw Crane in Danzig can be found in the Witcher 3 in Novigrad and is most likely a nod to Danzig by the developers.

Novigrad reflects the Germanic architecture of the high middle ages that was shared by Danzig and many other Hanseatic cities scattered throughout Northern Europe and Germany, including the Dutch city of Amsterdam.