Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
pl, was for centuries the coronation, wedding and burial church of tsars. It was built by Ivan
Kalita in 1333 to commemorate the end of the great famine, and dedicated to Archangel Mi-
chael, guardian of the Moscow princes. By the turn of the 16th century it had fallen into dis-
repair and was rebuilt between 1505 and 1508 by the Italian architect Alevisio Novi. Like
the Assumption Cathedral, it has five domes and is essentially Byzantine-Russian in style.
However, the exterior has many Venetian Renaissance features, notably the distinctive
scallop-shell gables and porticoes.
Tsarist Tombs
The tombs of almost all Muscovy's rulers from the 1320s to the 1690s are here. The only
absentee is Boris Godunov, whose body was taken out of the grave on the order of a 'False
Dmitry' and buried at Sergiev Posad in 1606. The bodies are buried underground, beneath
the 17th-century sarcophagi and 19th-century copper covers. Tsarevitch Dmitry (a son of
Ivan the Terrible), who died mysteriously in 1591, lies beneath a painted stone canopy. It
was Dmitry's death that sparked the appearance of a string of impersonators, known as False
Dmitrys, during the Time of Troubles. Ivan's own tomb is out of sight behind the iconostas-
is, along with those of his other sons, Ivan (whom he killed) and Fyodor I (who succeeded
him). From Peter the Great onwards, emperors and empresses were buried in St Petersburg,
the exception being Peter II, who died in Moscow and is here.
Murals
Some 17th-century murals were uncovered during restorations of the Archangel Cathedral
in the 1950s. The south wall depicts many of the rulers buried here; on the pillars are some
of their predecessors, including Andrei Bogolyubsky, Prince Daniil and Alexander Nevsky.
Hall of Facets & Terem Palace
