Buildings in the Kremlin
The Upper Saviour’s Cathedral and Terem Churches
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The earliest one is the St. Catherine Church, a tsarinas’ and tsarevnas’ home church built in 1627 by John Taller on the place of the burnt down wooden one. It stands on the same level with the Golden Tsarina’s Chamber. The two sides of the church were circled with a gallery. The ladder between the Church and the Tsarina’s Chamber led to the Front Stone Yard.
In 1654, the Eudokia Church was erected over the Catherine Church.
In 1635-1636, the tsars’ home Church of the Vernicle with a John Belogorodsky Chapel was built together with the Terem Palace at the western side of the Front Stone Yard. It was erected by the same masters: B. Ogurtsov (Cucumber), A. Konstantinov, T. Sharutin and L. Ushakov. The quadrangular church was built over the Gold Tsarina’s Chamber. In 1663, the church’s refectory was built over its outer entrance hall, so that the church formed the unique volume with the Chamber. The Front Stone Yard was renamed the Upper Saviour’s Perron.
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In 1679-1682, the palace cathedrals’ complex was reconstructed. A small Cathedral of Exaltation of the Cross, also called the Crucifixion Cathedral, was built over the John the Precursor’s Chapel. In order to enlarge the cathedral, the area between the Chapel and the Eudokia Church, renamed Resurrection, was built over. After that, the three cathedrals’ tops were made level with one cornice under one roof. The cathedral complex was reconstructed by architect Osip Startsev. The author covered the new volume with 11 small domes on exquisite drums and placed them so that they formed three five-domed compositions. Equally with the Terem Palace, the complex may be called the architectural symbol of the XVII century’s Kremlin.
In 1840-s, while the Grand Kremlin Palace’s construction, the Verkhospasskiy (Upper Saviour’s) cathedral complex lost its architectural isolation.
During the restoration works in the 1920-s, 1940-s and 1960-s, the historical look of the complex was partly restored.
But for much reconstruction and restoration work, the cathedrals have preserved unique examples of interior decoration, e.g. carved gilt iconostases of the XVII century with icons of the same time in the Verkhosppasskiy (Upper Saviour’s) Cathedral and the Resurrection Church. The unique iconostasis of the Crucifixion Church – “cooper chased in wooden columns” and icons in the technique of textiles application coupled with pictorial images are also of great value.
Nowadays, the palace churches in the Grand Kremlin Palace’s complex belong to the residence of the President of the Russian Federation.
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