WALL-PAINTING ABOVE THE TOMBS

A remarkable point about the cathedral's frescoes is that the tier above the tombs contains images of the grand princes and appanage princes, who are buried there. The majority of them are facing the altar, they are depicted with hands held in prayer and heads uncovered, as if they came for church service to the temple. Their heads are encircled with haloes. The symbolic haloes around their heads serve to accentuate their 'God-chosen' status, even though none of them was declared a saint by that time. Or the haloes can mean that they are not alive. Their patron saints are shown in small circles above princes' figures.

The improvised portrait gallery is opened with the image of Muscovy Prince Ivan Danilovich, named Kalita for the active policy of uniting lands around Moscow. He was one of the first Muscovy princes to receive a permission document for Vladimir principality, thanks to collecting a tribute for the khan from other principalities and cities of the feudal Russia. These cunning tactics enabled Ivan Kalita to bring them under his control.

His grandsons, Grand Prince of Moscow Dmitry Ivanovich and the appanage Prince of Serpukhov Vladimir Andreevich, having united almost all forces of appanage principalities, made a stand against the yoke of the Golden Horde and gained a difficult but decisive victory at the Kulikovo Field in 1380. In order to commemorate this event, Grand Prince Dmitry Ivanovich was named Donskoy ('of the Don'), and the prince of Serpukhov went down in history as Vladimir Andreevich Khrabry ('brave'). The images of both princes are present in the murals of the southern wall.

On the south wall, very close to the altar, there is an image of Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan III. Under his reign Russia was completely liberated from the Tatar Yoke. Ivan III was the first Russian grand prince who never went to the khan to the Golden Horde. Also he was the first to become the grand prince without the khan’s direct approval. It was him who managed to overcome the feudal separation in Russia; the principality of Moscow was replaced by the Russian state.

Such a numerous variety of 'portraits' of Russian princes was to illustrate the process of uniting all the North-East lands of Rus' around Moscow.