Monogram of Empress Elizabeth with Stucco Angels

Rich stucco decoration on blue painted vaults of Dormition Cathedral (Uspensky Sobor, Assumption cathedral) at the western side (opposite of an icon screen, altar) with the angels and the initials the 'EI' (for Empress Elizabeth, Russia's ruler at the time it was built). During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the Goritsky Monastery was transformed into the residence of the archbishop, an elevated status that brought resources for a rebuilding of churches on a grand scale by prominent architects from Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin was constructed in the 1750s with baroque and neoclassical elements in the manner of the prominent Moscow architect Karl Blank.

The church interior displays a lavish decorative style in the late Baroque manner of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, author of the Winter Palace and other masterpieces in St. Petersburg. Another source is the work of Dmitry Ukhtomsky, a Baroque master active in the Moscow area.

Photo #233 taken on June 08, 2013