Assumption Cathedral

Assumption Cathedral is the oldest, largest, and most important of the Kremlin's many churches. It stands on the site of a small cathedral erected by Ivan I around 1330 to mark Moscow's new status as the seat of Russian orthodoxy. A century and a half later, Ivan III (the Great) decided that his predecessor's modest and by then time-worn work was insufficient as a symbol of the city's grandeur. After a brief and unsuccessful flirtation with local builders, he decided to go all out and hire an Italian (after all, it was the Renaissance). Thus, in 1475, Alberti (a.k.a. Aristotle) Fioravanti arrived from Bologna. After conducting a tour of Vladimir, Pskov, and Novgorod in order to gain a sense of the traditions of Russian ecclesiatical architecture, Fioravanti returned to Moscow and set to work. A mere four years later, he had finished a veritable tour de force, a cathedral so satisfying to his patron that Fioravanti's request to return to Italy prompted Ivan to imprison him. Fioravanti died in captivity a few years later.