The Archangel Cathedral (english)

At the very edge ofBorovitsky Hill there rises one of the finest edifices of the Moscow Kremlin.This is the Archangel Cathedral. As legend goes, back in the 13thcentury a wooden church stood in its place, one dedicated to the ArchangelMichael, the recognized patron of the Russian princes in their militaryaffairs. In 1333, a whitestone church was erected on its site to become themain princely cathedral. In 1340, Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan Kalita was buriedhere.From that time on, the cathedral served as a necropolis.In the late 15thcentury, Moscow, now the capital of a powerful centralized state, underwentanother round of reconstruction and embellishment.

In 1505-1508, a newArchangel Cathedral replaced the old one. Its erection marked the completion ofthe ambitious construction project in the late 15th-early 16thcentury Moscow Kremlin. Built to the design of Alevisio Novy of Italy, theArchangel Cathedral combines typical features of the architecture of Venice ofthe Renaissance period, Byzantium and Early Russia.The ArchangelCathedral, a five-domed six-pillared edifice, is built in brick, while itssockle and splendid decor are laid in white stone.

It was for the first time inRussia that elements of the classical system were employed so extensively andconsistently in the design of the facades.The intricately shaped cornicesproduce the effect of a two-storeyed structure, while double-tiered pilasterstopped with carved capitals articulate the facades vertically, eacharticulation ending in a traditional Russian zakomara enclosing a carved whorltypical of Venetian architecture.

The architect paid special attention to thewestern wall, accenting with whitestone portals the main cathedral entrancewhich recedes into a deep loggia. The portals were decorated with carvedornament running over a blue painted ground. In 1980, the carved ornament wascleaned and the original colour was restored.The cathedralinterior is austere and simple.Six cruciform pillars divide the space intothree naves illuminated by two rows of slit-like windows and magnificent brasschandeliers made by Moscow masters specially for the Archangel Cathedral in thelate 17th-early 18th centuries.

Built into the westernwall are additional four-storey premises, a chapel with wide windows lookingout into the cathedral interior. The Archangel Cathedral had a considerable impact on thefurther development of Russia architecture.Many buildings were modelled on itin the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Cathedral was first decorated with frescoes in1564-1565. Some fragments of those painting have survived in the loggia of thewestern portal and in the chancel.In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gaveorders that the Church of the Archangel Michael be painted up anew and the oldpaintings be scraped off . The work was completed in 1666. Taking part in itwere nearly a hundred artists from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kastroma and othercities, supervised by the renowned masters Stepan Rezanets and Simon Ushakov.For many years the frescoes of the Archangel Cathedral remained obscured by the18th-19th century overpaint and a thick layer of dust andsoot.

It was only in the 1950s that restorers happened to uncover thewell-preserved 17th century paintings. One can mow see that thevaults and upper tiers of the southern and northern walls of the cathedral aretraditionally decorated with frescoes illustrating episodes from the Gospel.Anappreciable part of the frescoes feature miracles worked be the ArchangelMichael who helped people in their efforts to establish and consolidateChristian faith and in their strivings towards goodness and justice.

Thecomposition are majestic and monumental, while the radiant festive colour gamutgives one a feeling of jubilation. Particularly vivid are the battle scenesreminding one of the nation s long and hard struggle for the liberation andunification of the Russian lands.A distinctive feature of the ArchangelCathedral collection is a vast gallery of idealized images of historicalpersonalities comprising over sixty conventionalized portraits of Russianprinces.

Painted on the pillars are the images of Vladimir Kievsky died in1015 , Andrei Bogolyubky apr. 1111-1174 , Alexander Nevsky apr. 1220-1263 and other princes included in the pantheon of Russian saints.The images of theprinces buried in the Cathedral are places directly over the tombstones.The Cathedral sfour-row carved wood iconostasis dates back 1680-1682. The icons of the upperthree rows and several icons of the bottom row were painted by Armoury artistsunder the supervision of the favoured icon-painter Fyodor Zubov. They aredone in the ehiaroscuro manner typical of the late 17th century withcertain elements of perspective arrangement.

A vast amount of restoration andresearch work carried out here in 1979-1980. The oldest and most noteworthy fresco in the ArchangelCathedral is The Archangel Michael and His Acts painted in the late 14thor early 15th century. The unknown artist show the Archangel clad inarmour with a raised sword in his hand. The dynamic swing of the figure, thepowerful wings and the stern visage create the image of a warrior prepared forbattle.

The ideas of eternal struggle between the good and the evil, spiritualperfection and the defence of the native land, so popular in Early Russian art,have found expression here. For several centuries the Archangel Cathedral was one ofthe most revered churches in Moscow.

The princes and tsars came here to playtheir respects to the ancestors before starting out on military campaign. TheCathedral holds forty-six tombs of members of the families of the Russian grandprinces and tsars, covering the period from the 14th century to thefirst third of the 18th century.Crucial stages in the history ofthe Russian state are associated with the names of many of those entombed here,such as the unification of the Russian lands under the aegis of Moscowundertaken by Ivan Kalita in the 14th century the stubborn struggleagainst the Tartar-Mongols and the victory won over them in the Dmitry Donskoyand Vladimir Khrabry the consolidation of the Russian state and the growth ofits international prestige in the 15th and 16th centuriesunder Ivan the Third and Ivan the Terrible, and also the Russian people sheroic liberation struggle in the 17th century in which the name oftroop commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuysky figures prominently.

The interments areunder the cathedral floor.

On the surface are the burial monuments, whitetombstones engraved with fine ornament and memorial inscriptions. In thebeginning of this century they were enclosed in glazed metal casing.Resting by the south-eastern pillar under a carvedwhite-stone canopy is Tsarevich Dmitry, Ivan the Terrible s son who perished inUglich in 1591. After routing Pseudo-Dmitry the First s troops in 1606,theremains of Tsarevich Dmitry were moved to the Archangel Cathedral. Thetombstone is surrounded with an openwork grating, a remarkable monument of thecasting art of the first third of the 17th century.

Preserved in thealtar are the relics of the holy martyrs Prince Michail of Chernigov and BoyarFyodor who perished in the in the Golden Horde in 1245. In 1963-64, on the decision of a special commission, thegraves of Ivan the Terrible and his sons Ivan and Fyodor buried in the chancelsection of the Cathedral were opened, and anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov createdsculptural portraits of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Fyodor Ivanovich on thebasis of the skeleton remains.

At present the unique monument of Russian history andculture is a museum where optimum conditions are provided for keeping theicons, frescoes and diverse church attributes in a good state.The museum sresearch personnel are studying both the history of its construction and theworks of art preserved here. At the same time, the Archangel Cathedralcontinues to be one of the most revered sanctuaries are help regularly severaltimes a year. The Archangel Cathedral will remain forever a livingwitness of the history of the Kremlin, Moscow and the Russian state and immortalevidence of the talent of its builders and artists who were able to express inarchitectural forms and painted images the people s boundless love of theirmother country.