Lights on in Uspensky Sobor

Interior of the cathedral of Assumption Cathedral (Uspensky Sobor), the main church of Moscow Kremlin and the Russian State for period of 500 years. The magnificent cathedral has beautiful large chandeliers (also called as panikadilo in Ortdodox church) and the round pillars (feature of Italian architecture) with depictions of multitudinous martyrs, who do support the Church by their lives and death just like pillars support the vault. The cathedral of the Assumption (Dormition) was built in 1475-1479 by design of prominent Bologna engineer and architect, Aristotle Fioravanti, who was invited by Great Prince Ivan III The Great specially for this purpose. The cathedral was decorated in 1513-1515 by order of his son, Great Prince Vasily III (Basil the Third), but after 150 years the paint had lost its richness and in 1642-1642 Tsar Mikhail Romanov gave orders for it to be redecorated. A fine layer of gold was applied over original paintings. Almost 500 square meters were covered with this layer, and all the former frescoes were replicated on it. One hundred and fifty icon painters from different cities throughout Russia participated in this work.

Photo #036 taken on August 02, 2005 during tour of Moscow Kremlin with my Dear clients from USA, Carol and Bud Bristol.