Ascension Church

The Church of the Ascension was built in 1528-1532 in the royal estate Kolomenskoe by the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasiliy III (Basil III) to celebrate the birth of his son Ivan, the future first Russian tsar Ivan IV the Terrible.

The church is one of the earliest examples of a traditional wooden tent-roofed church on a stone and brick substructure. It is one of the most significant architectural monuments of the XVI century in Russia.

The tall vertically stretched church represents a cross in the plan. It stands on the ground floor with galleries and staircases and there`s an imposing towering above octahedral pyramid topped with a small cupola. The decoration of the church (pilasters, fretted capitals, "beads" on the hipped roof) were borrowed from the Italian Renaissance.

It has been inscribed on the World Heritage List since 1994.