Terem Palace

A cluster of golden domes is all that the ordinary visitor will see of this, the most splendid of the Kremlin's palaces. The original Terem Palace was built by a team of architects (Antip Konstantinov, Bazhen Ogurtsov, Ivan Sharutin and others) in 1635-36 for Mikhail Fyodorovich. There was much alteration and rebuilding in the 19th century, as a result of which only part of the two long basement storeys survive from the original palace. Parts of the ground and first floors go back to Ivan III's palace, built by Alevis Fryazin in 1499-1508.

On these two basement storeys, set back, is the cube-shaped residential block, also of two storeys, with a flat roof surrounded by a balustrade which served as a terrace.
In the basement storey on the east side of the palace is one of the few rooms to survive in its original state, the Golden Chamber of the Tsaritsa, named after its gilded decoration and wall-paintings. The interior decoration of the Terem Palace apartments has survived thanks to restoration work in the 1830-1840s.