Cathedral of the Annunciation
The Cathedral of the Annunciation, with its nine gilded domes, is the smallest of the three main Kremlin cathedrals, but the decoration of the interior (in particular the frescoes and icons by Andrei Rublev and Feofan Grek) makes
it one of the great treasures of Moscow. The cathedral was built in 1484-89 by a team of builders
from Pskov as the court church of Grand Prince Ivan III.
It was connected by a passage at the gallery level with the palace of the grand prince and later
with the tsar's residence. The passage still leads from the gallery into the Great
Kremlin Palace, which immediately adjoins the cathedral.
The nine domes and the arcade on the south side are reminiscent of the Cathedral of the Dormition in
Vladimir, but there are also Renaissance features, since the Cathedral of the Annunciation was
influenced by Aristotle Fioravanti's Cathedral
of the Dormition, built only a short time earlier.
This cathedral was the royal chapel ofthe Russian tsar. At the western wall, according to tradition,
is a choir gallery for the tsarina and the royal children. Noteworthy is the unusual floor laid
in reddish-brown jasper tiles. Preserved in the Cathedral of the Annunciation is one of the most
ancient Russian iconostasis. The icons, painted in 1405, were transferred to the cathedral from
an ancient church.
© State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin.
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