Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin

The Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin is an Orthodox church currently working. Location: Cathedral Square in Moscow. It is the main church of the state. This is the oldest building in the city, which is completely preserved.

Short story

The Assumption Cathedral is the House of the Blessed Virgin. The construction of the Assumption Temples in Russia became a tradition and began in ancient Kiev, where together with the Church of St. Sophia the first Assumption Cathedral was built at the Kiev-Pechersky Monastery. It is said that the Most Holy Mother of God transmitted gold through the Architects from Constantinople and promised to live in a newly built church.

In 1326-1327, Ivan Kalita built the first stone cathedral in Moscow, in this place the Uspensky Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin subsequently appeared. In front of the church built by Ivan Kalita, on this site was another ancient Moscow church (wooden architecture of the XII century).

The Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was the main church in Russia for four centuries. It crowned the kingdom of the throne heirs, it was in it that important state acts were announced, and patriarchs and metropolitans were elected. There were many other, no less important, ceremonies, which were produced precisely by the Assumption Cathedral. Moscow has raised many patriarchs and metropolitans, for some, the Assumption Cathedral has also become a burial vault. Their tombs are located along the walls of the temple.

Architecture of the Cathedral

The architect of the Assumption Cathedral was the Italian Aristotle Fioravanti, who was specially invited by Ivan III. The Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin was erected in 1475-1479 in the likeness of the Assumption Cathedral of the 12th century in one of the oldest Russian cities - Vladimir.

The central entrance to this oldest church is from the side of the Cathedral Square. The wide front staircase at the entrance ends with a picturesque portal of three semicircular arches. Here Archangel Michael, together with the angel, allegedly guard the entrance to the building of the cathedral. A little above the arch - the figures of the saints, and above them is depicted the Mother of God with a baby in her arms. All this - multicolored murals, which were very qualitatively performed by Russian artists of the distant seventeenth century, whose names remained unknown.

Inside the cathedral, the central part is separated from the altar by a five-tier iconostasis of the seventeenth century (the iconostasis is about sixteen meters in height and covered with chased gilded silver), and it was executed in about 1652 by painters invited from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Unfortunately, in 1682 a fire broke out in the cathedral, because of which the icons suffered, but were successfully updated by royal isografs (Cyril Ulanov, Georgy Zinoviev and Tikhon Filatiev). For many centuries, the cathedral housed icons created by Russian painters. The most ancient, ancient icon, which is in the cathedral - "Saint George", it is located directly in front of the iconostasis.

On the cathedral, the French troops raided (the Patriotic War of 1812 ). Of the silver, which later the Russian Cossacks still repulsed and returned to their homeland, a chandelier was built which now hangs in the center.

Also the most ancient monument of Russian applied art with the Assumption Cathedral is its southern entrance doors. They were brought to the capital from the Suzdal Cathedral (they are numbered at the beginning of the fifteenth century). On them, about twenty images on a biblical theme were made by gold (on black lacquer).

The cathedral is currently

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Assumption Cathedral was turned into a museum. Employees, creating an exposition, tried to keep its interiors as much as possible. And since 1990, in the Assumption Cathedral, divine services were resumed. Thus, now the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin performs two main functions: the museum and the temple itself.