Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin - a historical monument of Moscow

The Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin has a long and complex history. It is a magnificent monument of history and architecture of several eras, having their own face. The famous cathedral was a personal temple of Russian tsars and grand dukes.

Its oldest part was erected at the very end of the fourteenth century, and the latest - in the nineteenth century. In the descriptions of the history of the nineteenth century church there are not documented legends about the construction of a small wooden church, called the Annunciation. It was built by Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Nevsky, in 1291. During this period of time, the princely family ruled in Moscow, and at his court there must have been a temple. However, officially the Annunciation Cathedral was mentioned in chronicles only in 1397. That is why historians and researchers believe that the stone Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin was erected at the end of the fourteenth century.

In the fifteenth century, Ivan the Third began large-scale construction of a luxurious Grand Duke's residence. By this time include the beginning of the construction of new Kremlin walls and the construction of the Assumption Cathedral, a large temple of the Moscow Kremlin, which turned out to be unsuccessful - suddenly the walls collapsed. As the surviving chronicles say, the Cathedral of the Annunciation was built by Pskov masters. At first, he had three chapters - the central (the largest) and two on the eastern corners of the temple. In the sixteenth century four chapels with their own chapters were built, and two more appeared on the main volume. So the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin became nine-headed. In 1508, its central dome was covered with gilding. In the middle of the sixteenth century, all the heads and roof were processed with gilded copper. Since then the cathedral has received the name "Zlatoverkhy".

The building is rich in decoration. Its walls are decorated with an arcade belt, the origins of which are laid in the Vladimir tradition. Thanks to him, it is in harmony with the neighboring Uspensky Cathedral.

The Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin suffered a great deal in the year of 1917 when it was fired upon. The artillery shell destroyed his porch, and in March 1918 the cathedral, like the Kremlin itself, was closed. Today the famous temple acts as a museum. Previously, there was another church in the Kremlin, called the Annunciation. It was destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and now almost no one remembers it.

The Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin was the tomb of Russian tsars and grand dukes. The building is built of white stone. Its height is twenty-one meters. At the very end of the sixteenth century, the walls of the cathedral were painted, but the frescoes were left only in the deacon, where the tomb of Ivan the Terrible is located. Painted Archangel Cathedral best painters - S. Ushakov, F. Zubov, I. Vladimirov, F. Kozlov. Especially valuable is the "portrait" part of the murals of the lower tier. It consists of 60 images of the great princes, buried in the cathedral. At the most honorable place is a portrait of Basil III.