Buildings in the Kremlin
The Church of Laying Our Lady's Holy Robe

Erected in 1484-1485 by a team of Russian masters invited to Moscow from Pskov. Up to the mid XVII century, it had been a home church of Metropolitans and later Moscow Patriarchs. In 1655, in the time of Patriarch Nikon, the church was given to the Great Prince’s Palace.

The small one-domed brick church with three apses stands on high podklet. The main cube space’s top is crowned with zakomaras. The walls are held by four square pillars.

The church’s three sides are adorned with a frieze of terracotta balusters and ornamental plates. The apses are also zoned with such an ornamental frieze.

In the second half of the XVI century, the northern and western white-stone church’s portals were replaced by brick ones, just like the portals of the Pokrovskiy Cathedral (St. Basil the Blessed).

The Church of Laying Our Lady’s Holy Robe houses the unique four-tiered iconostasis of 1627. The majority of icons were painted by Nasary Istomin Savin, a royal icon-painter. The murals tell the story of Virgin Mary’s life and illustrate the solemn chant to Our Lady’s honour – Acathistus. The interior is decorated with old chandelier and so cold “lean candles”.

In the gallery of the church you can see the infrequent exhibition of Russian wooden sculpture of XV-XIX centuries.