The city of Moscow as the former capital of Russia before Peter the Great, and as the current capital of Russia after the revolution of 1917 was always one of the most important cities of Russia. Great amounts of Russian were Orthodox Christian, and for that reason, you can find Orthodox churches all around Russia. Since there were lots of Orthodox Churches, and most of Tsars were also Orthodox Christian, it’s not hard to guess the importance and influences of the Orthodox Church. For example, there are three Orthodox cathedrals at the heart of Moscow inside the Kremlin fortress. The Assumption Cathedral, the Cathedral of Annunciation, and the Cathedral of Archangel are located at the Cathedral square which each of them has a unique and individual story behind them, as each of them has a different important role in Russia history.
Before the Cathedral of Archangel was built in 1505, there was a wooden church built at the exact location of the current cathedral, in 1250, years before it was replaced by a stone church in 1333. In 1505, Ivan III decided to rebuild the Moscow, and particularly Kremlin, and following his order, the Cathedral of Archangel was built which was somehow meant to portray Russia glory. The cathedral’s name came from Michael the Archangel who acknowledged as a celestial warrior.
The construction of the cathedral began in 1505 and ended in 1508. At the beginning of the construction, Ivan III died and buried inside the unfinished Cathedral of Archangel. After the fire of 1737, and also the plan of expanding the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Cathedral of Archangel severely damaged. This cathedral was the place where the Russian army celebrated their victories in the wars, and since the cathedral was quite important to the Imperial family too, it was chosen to be the burial place for the Tsars and Empresses of Russia before Peter the Great moved the capital to St. Petersburg. Tsars and rulers of Russia before that event were buried inside this cathedral alongside their close relatives. The only exception was Tsar Boris Godunov, and the only Tsar who buried inside this cathedral after the change of the capital was Tsar Peter II who died in Moscow.
During the Polish invasion, the Cathedral of Archangel was looted and lost all of its treasures. Following the French invasion of Moscow, the French army took down the cathedral’s large chandeliers and used the cathedral as their barn for their horses. The French army also used the wooden frames of the cathedral’s iconostasis and icons as the fuel for fire which caused the cathedral great amount of damage. Most of the cathedral’s icons were painted after the French invasion, but the oldest image inside the cathedral is the picture of the archangel Michael in complete armor which dates back to the 14th century.
During the days of the revolution, the Cathedral of Archangel like any other buildings inside the Kremlin complex were caught in the line of fire and damaged severely. Following the Bolsheviks’ victory in revolution and the beginning of the Soviet Union reign, the cathedral closed, it was only opened in 1950 as a part of Kremlin Museum. After the opening of the museum, all of the cathedral’s church services were suspended. The church services only began to give after the fall of the Soviet Union when the cathedral was given back to the Orthodox Church. All of the cathedral’s valuables and treasures before the opening of the museum were moved to Kremlin Museum or sold abroad.
Ivan III invited the skilled Italian architect, Aloisio the New to construct the new cathedral. He designed the cathedral with his unique vision by attaching the Italian Renaissance elements to the Russian classical architecture. Though, most of those elements were removed in the following restorations due to the fact that they were not matched with Moscow’s standards. Though the exterior design of this cathedral followed the traditional Russian architecture, it was somehow different from other traditional Russian cathedrals. There were five domes and several semicircular shapes that used to decorate the exterior. The Italian Renaissance architecture had quite a lot of influences on the exterior design of the cathedral, including the white color on the limestones that utilized to build the cathedral.
Unlike the exterior, to design the interior of the cathedral, the designer mostly followed the Classical Russian architecture, with a great amount of icon and iconostasis. The wall and ceiling paintings in this cathedral didn’t exist until the 18th century. The darkness of the cathedral plus utilizing the earth’s colors to decorate the cathedral made a heavy atmosphere inside the cathedral that suits the name of Michael the Archangel, which was the name of the cathedral.
The first target for almost all the tourists who travel to Moscow is Red Square at the heart of the city. The Kremlin complex alongside all of its tourist attractions is also located inside Red Square. One of the favorite attractions of Kremlin beside the Museum is its cathedrals, and between them, the Cathedral of Archangel is the favorite one among tourists and visitors. There are several reasons for tourists to be more attracted to the Cathedral of Archangel more than any other cathedrals inside the Kremlin complex, for example, the interesting exterior design and the heavy atmosphere of the interior alongside the icons and fascinating wall-paintings, or the Tsars burial tombs which is located at the basement of the cathedral.
We recommend you to visit this cathedral in your travel to Russia since Red Square and the Kremlin complex are defiantly on any tour to Moscow’s program. Alongside all these attractions, you can also enjoy some of the temporary exhibitions from the Kremlin museum which held inside the cathedral. The Cathedral of Archangel is also celebrating some of the special religious celebrations which attending for none Christian people are sometimes permitted. The cathedral is one of the main attractions of Kremlin, so it’s better to review the plans to visit this cathedral, and other attractions of Moscow with your travel agency, before the beginning of your travel to Russia.
