Wall-painting

The Assumption cathedral was first painted in 1513-1515. In 1642-1643, the murals were demolished with the wall plaster, having made copies, and the team of 150 artists headed by royal painters Ivan and Boris Paisein and Sidor Pospeev created murals existing.

Architecture and murals of the cathedral create an image of cosmos, where vaults symbolize heaven, held on the cathedrals’ pillars. Traditionally, at the pillars there are depictions of martyrs, who do support the Church by their lives and death just like pillars support the vault. The murals of the Assumption Cathedral have clear composition.

In the domes there are placed various images of God, the upper parts of the walls are covered with illustrations of the Gospel, their location corresponds to sequence of divine services within a year.

The two following tiers are dedicated to Our Lady’s life scenes and illustrations of Acathistus, hymn in honour of Our Lady. In the lower tier there are depicted seven Ecumenical Councils. At the western wall there is an immense composition of “The Judgment Day”. On the round pillars there are depictions of multitudinous martyrs.

In the late XIXth- early ХХth centuries, during the restoration of the cathedral, in the altar there were found several frescoes of the XVth-XVIth centuries, which were considered to have been created by Dyonisy,  the most eminent artist of that time, i.e. images of venerable saints, compositions “Seven Adolescents of Ephesus sleeping”, “Forty martyrs of Savaty”, “Worship of the Magy” and others.