Blagoveshchensky (of the Annunciation) Cathedral

The cathedral was the family church of Russian tsars. Here they were married; new-born heirs were christened here, and the presbyter of the cathedral used hear the confessions of the royal family.

The Annunciation cathedral was built in 1484 - 1489 by the architects Krivtsov and Myshkin. Note the covered arcade on the left: it was attached to the church in the times of Ivan the Terrible. The tsar would stand there during services as it was forbidden for him to enter the cathedral after he got married for the fourth time. The cathedral walls bear pictures of ancient sages such as Aristotle, Thucydides, Plutarch, and Socrates holding scrolls with philosophic dicta.

Granovitaya Palata (Faceted Chamber) (66) situated near the Annunciation Cathedral is the only secular building in Moscow that was preserved since that time. Its walls are made of diamond-pointed stone giving it its name. Here coronation banquets took place; Ivan the Terrible celebrated the conquest of Kazan; and Boris Godunov received Ioanne, the Danish prince whom he proposed to his daughter as a husband.

The splendid "Red perron" leads into the Chamber; it was destroyed in the 1930s and reconstructed only in 1994. The Annunciation Cathedral iconostasis is one of he most ancient ones in Russia. Some of its icons are ascripted to Theophanes the Greek and Andrew Rublev.

One more nearby cathedral - Archangelsky (of Archangel Michael) (63) - served as a burial-vault of grand princes and Russian tsars. Its founder Ivan Kalita was the first to be buried here. There are 53 tombs in the cathedral now.