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Private Church of Tsars

Private Church of Tsars

This small, but very attractive church with beautiful golden domes, named the Annunciation Cathedral, stands on the main square inside the Moscow Kremlin (Cathedral's Square) and binded with Grand Kremlin Palace (left side on the picture). The Cathedral was the family church of the Moscow princes and later tsars. It was here that they married and had their new-born heirs to the throne baptized, and the cathedral's senior presbyter was the Tsar's family confessor. The church was built between 1484 and 1489 by the architects Kryvtsov and Myshkin. In the 1480s, during the reign of Ivan III, Pskov master craftsmen constructed a new three-domed brick church on the foundations of an older structure.

The church was rebuilt in 1562-1564 after a fire, and another two domes and four corner side-chapels with cupolas were added. While during the reign of Ivan the Terrible a covered gallery was added on the left side. so that the Tsar could stand there during services. In the south side-chapel was to be found his prayer room. This was necessitated by the fact that contrary to church rules he married for the fourth time in 1572, and so he was prohibited from attending general services. From the porch of this cathedral in March 1584 Ivan caught sight of a cross-shaped comet and decided that it foretold of his impending death, and indeed he died a few days later.

Frescoes and icons inside the church were painted by medieval Russia's great artist Adrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek. Currently this church is closed for renovation.


With BEST Regards,
Arthur Lookyanov
Personal Guide & Driver in Moscow
Moscow Kremlin Tour
Last Edited: June 1st, 2007

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Bobbi Baker
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From: Brookline, Mass., USA
Date: 2004-07-02 20:29:21

Arthur is not only the best info and tour driver, HE IS MOSCOW. Knows every back street to get around traffic jams, every good restaurant and where to find a clean toilet. even got us hard to get tickets for the Bolshoi. He is the best and as a world traveler I think he is a GEM. The added gift of a CD of our trip gave us a great memory to carry home.





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