 The Archangelskiy Cathedral stands on the south - princely - corner of Cathedral Square facing the BlagoveshchenskiyBlagoveshchenskiy Cathedral.
Under the order of Ivan Kalita the white-stoned temple, at that time the biggest one in the Kremlin, was built in 1333 instead of the wooden Church of the Archangel Michael occupying the site since the 13th century.
From that moment and till the end of the 18th century the Cathedral served as the burial vault first of Grand Dukes and then of Czars as well.
Under Ivan the 3d the dilapidated Cathedral was dismantled and the new Archangelskiy Cathedral was built at its site in 1505 ? 1508 by the architect Alevisio Novi.
The Cathedral's architectural structure is traditionally Russian: it is a five-domed, six-pillared temple with crosses and cupolas.
The Renaissance influence on its decor still seems obvious.
The interior draws attention by cross-like arrangement of pillars that is traditional for the Russian architecture.
The architectural decor's horizontal divisions are matched by murals of the iconostasis and wall paintings.
The Cathedral building was never rebuilt but it was burned and repaired many times. Under the design of V.Bazhenov in 1772 it was reinforced by the white-stoned counterfort on the south side.
For the first time the Archangelskiy Cathedral was icon-painted in the second half of the 16th century (today only fragments of those murals remain).
In 1652-1666 by the order of Alexey Michailovitch the Cathedral was repainted. Icon-painters worked under the supervision of Simon Ushakov. The main subject of the Cathedral's murals is the depiction of holy warriors and related topic, all devoted to the Archangel Michael accordingly.
District: Downtown
Address: Kremlin, Moscow
Underground: Alexandrovskiy Sad
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