FORMER CATHEDRAL

The construction of the first building of the Archangel Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin is connected with the first Prince of Muscovy Ivan Kalita – he got his name because of his shrewd policy to accumulate Russian lands around Moscow. 

The grand prince built a white-stone Archangel Cathedral in 1333 and made a will to bury him in that cathedral, thus defining its main occupancy – to be the burial place of grand princes’ family. There is an annalistic data about wall painting in 1344-1347 during the reign of Grand Prince Simeon Gordy, the son of Ivan Kalita, and in 1399 during the reign of Grand Prince Vasily I Dmitrievich, the grandson of Ivan Kalita. There is a data that Theophanes the Greek with his pupils was working at the cathedral at that time.

The cathedral built by Russian masters remained for one hundred and seventy two years. Then it was demolished due to “dilapidation and overloading with tombs”. All the relics were transferred to another cathedral, and when a new Archangel Cathedral was erected, they were transferred back and solemnly reburied.