The Archangel Cathedral
At the very edge of Borovitsky Hill there rises one of the finest
edifices of the Moscow Kremlin. This is the Archangel Cathedral. As legend
goes, back in the 13th century a wooden church stood in its place, one
dedicated to the Archangel Michael, the recognized patron of the Russian
princes in their military affairs. In 1333, a whitestone church was erected
on its site to become the main princely cathedral. In 1340, Grand Prince of
Moscow Ivan Kalita was buried here. From that time on, the cathedral served
as a necropolis.
In the late 15th century, Moscow, now the capital of a powerful
centralized state, underwent another round of reconstruction and
embellishment. In 1505-1508, a new Archangel Cathedral replaced the old
one. Its erection marked the completion of the ambitious construction
project in the late 15th-early 16th century Moscow Kremlin. Built to the
design of Alevisio Novy of Italy, the Archangel Cathedral combines typical
features of the architecture of Venice of the Renaissance period, Byzantium
and Early Russia.
The Archangel Cathedral, a five-domed six-pillared edifice, is built
in brick, while its sockle and splendid decor are laid in white stone. It
was for the first time in Russia that elements of the classical system were
employed so extensively and consistently in the design of the facades. The
intricately shaped cornices produce the effect of a two-storeyed structure,
while double-tiered pilasters topped with carved capitals articulate the
facades vertically, each articulation ending in a traditional Russian
zakomara enclosing a carved whorl typical of Venetian architecture. The
architect paid special attention to the western wall, accenting with
whitestone portals the main cathedral entrance which recedes into a deep
loggia. The portals were decorated with carved ornament running over a blue
painted ground. In 1980, the carved ornament was cleaned and the original
colour was restored.
The cathedral interior is austere and simple. Six cruciform pillars
divide the space into three naves illuminated by two rows of slit-like
windows and magnificent brass chandeliers made by Moscow masters specially
for the Archangel Cathedral in the late 17th-early 18th centuries. Built
into the western wall are additional four-storey premises, a chapel with
wide windows looking out into the cathedral interior.
The Archangel Cathedral had a considerable impact on the further
development of Russia architecture. Many buildings were modelled on it in
the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Cathedral was first decorated with frescoes in 1564-1565. Some
fragments of those painting have survived in the loggia of the western
portal and in the chancel. In 1652, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich gave orders
that “the Church of the Archangel Michael be painted up anew and the old
paintings be scraped off”. The work was completed in 1666. Taking part in
it were nearly a hundred artists from Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kastroma and other
cities, supervised by the renowned masters Stepan Rezanets and Simon
Ushakov. For many years the frescoes of the Archangel Cathedral remained
obscured by the 18th-19th century overpaint and a thick layer of dust and
soot. It was only in the 1950s that restorers happened to uncover the well-
preserved 17th century paintings. One can mow see that the vaults and upper
tiers of the southern and northern walls of the cathedral are traditionally
decorated with frescoes illustrating episodes from the Gospel. An
appreciable part of the frescoes feature miracles worked be the Archangel
Michael who helped people in their efforts to establish and consolidate
Christian faith and in their strivings towards goodness and justice. The
composition are majestic and monumental, while the radiant festive colour
gamut gives one a feeling of jubilation. Particularly vivid are the battle
scenes reminding one of the nation’s long and hard struggle for the
liberation and unification of the Russian lands. A distinctive feature of
the Archangel Cathedral collection is a vast gallery of idealized images of
historical personalities comprising over sixty conventionalized portraits
of Russian princes. Painted on the pillars are the images of Vladimir
Kievsky (died in 1015), Andrei Bogolyubky (apr. 1111-1174), Alexander
Nevsky (apr. 1220-1263) and other princes included in the pantheon of
Russian saints. The images of the princes buried in the Cathedral are
places directly over the tombstones.
The Cathedral’s four-row carved wood iconostasis dates back 1680-1682. The
icons of the upper three rows and several icons of the bottom row were
painted by Armoury artists under the supervision of the “favoured” icon-
painter Fyodor Zubov. They are done in the ehiaroscuro manner typical of
the late 17th century with certain elements of perspective arrangement. A
vast amount of restoration and research work carried out here in 1979-1980.
The oldest and most noteworthy fresco in the Archangel Cathedral is
“The Archangel Michael and His Acts” painted in the late 14th or early 15th
century. The unknown artist show the Archangel clad in armour with a raised
sword in his hand. The dynamic swing of the figure, the powerful wings and
the stern visage create the image of a warrior prepared for battle. The
ideas of eternal struggle between the good and the evil, spiritual
perfection 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 of the most
revered churches in Moscow. The princes and tsars came here to play their
respects to the ancestors before starting out on military campaign. The
Cathedral holds forty-six tombs of members of the families of the Russian
grand princes and tsars, covering the period from the 14th century to the
first third of the 18th century. Crucial stages in the history of the
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 Moscow
undertaken by Ivan Kalita in the 14th century; the stubborn struggle
against the Tartar-Mongols and the victory won over them in the Dmitry
Donskoy and Vladimir Khrabry; the consolidation of the Russian state and
the growth of its international prestige in the 15th and 16th centuries
under Ivan the Third and Ivan the Terrible, and also the Russian people’s
heroic liberation struggle in the 17th century in which the name of troop
commander Mikhail Skopin-Shuysky figures prominently. The interments are
under the cathedral floor. On the surface are the burial monuments, white
tombstones engraved with fine ornament and memorial inscriptions. In the
beginning of this century they were enclosed in glazed metal casing.
Resting by the south-eastern pillar under a carved white-stone canopy
is Tsarevich Dmitry, Ivan the Terrible’s son who perished in Uglich in
1591. After routing Pseudo-Dmitry the First’s troops in 1606,the remains of
Tsarevich Dmitry were moved to the Archangel Cathedral. The tombstone is
surrounded with an openwork grating, a remarkable monument of the casting
art of the first third of the 17th century. Preserved in the altar are the
relics of the holy martyrs Prince Michail of Chernigov and Boyar Fyodor who
perished in the in the Golden Horde in 1245.
In 1963-64, on the decision of a special commission, the graves of
Ivan the Terrible and his sons Ivan and Fyodor buried in the chancel
section of the Cathedral were opened, and anthropologist M.M. Gerasimov
created sculptural portraits of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and Fyodor Ivanovich
on the basis of the skeleton remains.
At present the unique monument of Russian history and culture is a
museum where optimum conditions are provided for keeping the icons,
frescoes and diverse church attributes in a good state. The museum’s
research personnel are studying both the history of its construction and
the works of art preserved here. At the same time, the Archangel Cathedral
continues to be one of the most revered sanctuaries are help regularly
several times a year.
The Archangel Cathedral will remain forever a living witness of the
history of the Kremlin, Moscow and the Russian state and immortal evidence
of the talent of its builders and artists who were able to express in
architectural forms and painted images the people’s boundless love of their
mother country.
