Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin. Terem Palace of the Moscow Kremlin - a miracle of Russian architecture of the 17th century. Great Terem Palace

From the Terem Palace, located behind the Palace of Facets, there is a breath of distant fairy-tale antiquity. Unfortunately, the palace itself is not visible from Cathedral Square. Best Review The tower can be accessed from the inner palace courtyard or from the Ivanovo Bell Tower, but there is no access there.

History of the Terem Palace

The Terem Palace, three floors high, was built in 1635-1636 over two levels of chambers during the times of Vasily III and Ivan IV (XVI century). Subsequently, due to numerous alterations, the lower floors lost their ancient appearance. Tsarevich Alexei Mikhailovich was the first to live in stone chambers, and his father continued to live in wooden ones, believing that this was healthier. In 1637, the new stone mansions were finally finished: the walls were painted with gold and silver colors, and multi-colored mica windows by master Ivan Osipov were inserted into the windows. Architects define the appearance of the Terem Palace as a motley combination of Old Russian style with Italian (in Rus' it was called Lombard).

The Terem Palace stood on the territory of the Royal Court, which occupied quite a large area and included many different chambers, churches, towers, orders, workshops and courtyards. Most of the buildings were wooden, and almost every representative of the royal family had their own house or mansion with elaborate decorations. The Tsar himself lived with his sons in the Terem Palace. The chambers of the queen and princesses were located on the north side and have not survived to this day. The front façade of the palace buildings was not the southern one, as it is now, facing the Moscow River, but the eastern one, facing Cathedral Square.

The Royal Court, together with the Terem Palace, reached its greatest prosperity in the second half of the 17th century. At that time, according to the testimony of foreign travelers, the roofs of the towers were gilded. On the buildings along Borovitsky Hill, greenhouses and gardens were built in the image of the famous gardens of the Babylonian queen Semiramis. During the 18th century, the Terem Palace and the rest of the old Royal Court gradually fell into disrepair. In the big fire under Anna Ivanovna in 1737, almost all the buildings burned down and the tower was badly damaged. At the behest of Elizaveta Petrovna, the architect Rastrelli built a new Royal Palace, which stood on the site of the present Great Kremlin. Palace servants and their families settled in the rooms of the towers.

In 1812, Napoleon stayed at the Elizabeth Palace, and after that the palace burned down along with other buildings. As already mentioned, in 1838-1849, at the behest of Emperor Nicholas I, Konstantin Top built the current Grand Kremlin Palace, combining it with towers. For the 200th anniversary of the towers, their appearance and interior decoration were recreated according to ancient samples and drawings from the time of Alexei Mikhailovich. Somewhat later, in the 1870s, the artist Timofey Kiselev, based on the drawings of academician Fyodor Solntsev, completed the current paintings on a golden background. The previous 17th-century painting by Simon Ushakov, with the exception of some fragments, has not survived. Multi-colored glass instead of mica was inserted in the 19th-20th centuries.

Construction of towers

1. Basement.
2. Household services.
3. Golden porch.
4. Golden-Domed Teremok

The Terem Palace consists of five floors. The two lower ones, as before, are occupied by economic services. The third, where in the 17th century the royal soapbox (bathhouse) and the rooms of the royal children were located, was used before the revolution as an archive of ancient state papers; now it is also an official one. On the fourth floor, the furnishings of the royal private chambers were restored - the Anterior (or Refectory), Cross (or Duma) chambers, the sovereign's office, and the bedchamber (bedroom). On the fifth floor there is the Golden-Domed Tower with an open gallery around it, built by Mikhail Fedorovich for his sons.
The entire building retains the character of the ancient wooden mansion. It resembles several huts stacked on top of each other. Almost all the rooms in the living quarters are the same, each with the traditional three windows for huts. Only the top floor - the Golden-Domed Teremok - consists of one bright room.

Until the end of the 17th century, no one except the king and his family entered the living quarters located on the fourth tier of the towers. First, the staircase leads to the Verkhospasskaya platform, fenced with the famous Golden Lattice. Since few Russians were lucky enough to observe the grille up close, a legend arose that it was cast from depreciated copper money, withdrawn from circulation by Alexei Mikhailovich in 1662 to stop the Copper Riot. (Such an original way of fighting inflation.) In fact, it is masterfully forged from iron and gilded. From a distance you can see a floral pattern on it, and up close you can see fantastic fish, birds and monsters.

Behind the bars there is a porch with sculptures of two lions on the sides. The lions hold shields with the monogram of Nicholas I, since during his reign a restructuring took place, and the porch, which was previously outside the towers, ended up in the interior. It is called Golden because it once adjoined the Golden Chamber, where church utensils were made. From the arch above the porch stairs hangs a weight in the form of a lion's head holding an apple in its mouth (this symbolizes keeping palace secrets).

The first room with low arches and tiled stoves is called the Front Room and is painted with images of holy kings and princes - Constantine and Helen, Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga. Ancient tiles on stoves have not changed their brightness for hundreds of years, and to this day the secret of their manufacture has been lost. Here the boyars awaited the arrival of the tsar, and then followed him to the Cross Chamber and sat down on the benches according to their rank.

In the Cross Chamber, in the morning the king took the blessing of the priest, and in the afternoon, sitting on the throne, discussed state affairs. Sometimes he received ambassadors here, but only from Christian powers. Until 1918, two caskets with historical documents were preserved in the chamber - about the election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom (1613) and about the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia (1589).

Next is the third room, which in the 17th century was called exactly that - a room, but not a simple one, but a Golden one. In the modern sense, this is an office, albeit a special one, the likes of which you won’t see anymore. Its doors were covered with gilded leather with images of plants and animals. In the left front corner near the window is the royal throne. In front of him is a carpet embroidered by the princesses. The walls are painted in gold on a bright red background. In the middle of the vault the Savior is depicted on the throne, around him are the ecumenical and Moscow saints. Along the perimeter of the walls are the coats of arms of the Russian kingdoms and lands. The most delicate issues were resolved here, for example, the deprivation of Nikon of the patriarchal rank. Sometimes the tsar treated the closest boyars in his office, and at other times he fed the beggars and “his” pilgrims. These pilgrims lived near the choir and were fully supported. Leading a pious life, they sometimes lived up to a hundred years or more.

The Golden Room has another interesting detail. Its middle window, near which the royal throne stood, opens onto the courtyard onto the so-called Boyarsky platform (or Bed porch) and is marked on the façade with a carved white stone frame with a double-headed eagle. It is called Petition - from here they lowered a box on a rope into which petitions were placed directly to the king (petitions).

The fourth room is the bedchamber, that is, the bedroom. Along the walls there are medallions with touching scenes of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Savior, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in infancy, etc. The Russian Tsar rested on a small carved bed with a curtain made of Chinese silk and a canopy at the head, on which “magic” words from the 44th Psalm of the Prophet David were embroidered in Greek. The young armor bearer sang this psalm in front of King Saul, relieving his melancholy and fatigue. Under the bedchamber there is a “soap box”, otherwise a bathhouse or shower room, where one could go down a twisted ladder. Its floor and walls were sealed with lead plates to make it waterproof.

The side door leads to the Prayer Room.
On the wall are two gilded icon cases with ancient icons, crosses and panagias that belonged to Alexei Mikhailovich. On the lectern, near which the king prayed, lay a handwritten Gospel of the 14th century. In the window frames of two adjacent rooms, mica - “Russian glass” - has been preserved. They say that there was a buffet here, where, among other things, there was malvasia and Rhine wine - the favorite wines of Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich. It is likely that they treated their boyars to them.

From the entryway you can go to a narrow twisted staircase that leads to the last, fifth tier, to the Golden-Domed Tower. This is one large chamber on the flat roof of the Terem Palace, surrounded by a gallery. Attached to it from the west is the so-called Lookout Tower with multi-colored glass in the ancient windows. Carved decorations for the amusement of princes and princesses depict fairy-tale and mythological creatures - centaurs with bows, silenes with tails and hooves, parrots in bunches of grapes, and the like.

How Russian tsars lived in the Kremlin

In the 17th century, the spirit of Byzantium permeated the walls of the Terem Palace. There was a strict routine and hierarchy in everything. Any violation of etiquette and even an obscene word uttered here could be perceived as an insult to the king and lead to disgrace. To prevent conspiracies and intrigues, hiding places were set up everywhere.

The daily routine of the Moscow kings was traditional. We got up at dawn, with the first rays of the sun, at four or five o'clock, and in winter - at the latest at seven in the morning. In the Cross Chamber, candles were already burning in front of the icons; on the lectern (stand for icons) lay an icon of a festive event or of the saint whose memory day was celebrated on that very day. The king prayed for about a quarter of an hour, then received the blessing of the priest, who sprinkled him with holy water, specially brought to the court from distant monasteries and holy places. Afterwards, the king himself or with the queen went to one of the palace churches, where he listened to matins and sometimes early mass. On major holidays this took place in one of the Kremlin cathedrals. The mass lasted two hours. On the days of Great Lent and other fasts, Alexey Mikhailovich stood at the service for five hours and sometimes made a thousand bows.

There was no breakfast in the current sense - simply because it was not customary to eat before the service, and after it it was soon time for lunch. Then the king began his current affairs and finished them at about 12 noon. At these same hours, the tsar sometimes received foreign ambassadors. Representatives of Christian powers entered it through the Annunciation Cathedral, which was connected to the palace, and non-Christians - along a separate staircase that stood between the Annunciation Cathedral and the Faceted Chamber.

Having finished his business, the sovereign went to the meal. On fast days they ate only oatmeal with rye bread, washed down with wine, beer or apple juice, and on ordinary days about 70 dishes were served to the table, including caviar, stews, roasts, etc. During long fasts (four a year), they ate sparingly three times a week, and on other days they limited themselves to pickled mushrooms or cucumbers and half a glass of beer.

After the meal, the king went to bed and usually slept until three in the afternoon, as is customary in the East, where noon is the hottest time of the day. After sleep, the courtiers again came to the king, with whom he went to vespers in the temple, and after it discussed matters for an hour or two. Then the king communicated with members of his household, read soulful books, listened to stories of pilgrims about pilgrimages to distant lands, about sphinxes and people “with dog heads” seen somewhere in Egypt. Sometimes he played chess or watched the performances of circus performers in the Amusement Chamber. After the evening meal, he went to the evening prayer in the Cross Chamber, where he began his day.

The lifestyle of queens and princesses was also traditional. In addition, they were very rarely allowed to leave the palace; even within the territory of the Royal Court there were strict restrictions for them. All those close to him, with the exception of the king, communicated with them not directly, but only through trusted noblewomen. The joy of queens and princesses was their solemn appearances at church services, where they could appear in all the splendor of their attire, but in deserted churches, since no one was allowed into the Kremlin at that time. This continued from century to century, until Peter I. Under him, this routine was disrupted, and the life of the imperial court in a new place, in St. Petersburg, went in a European way.

Through the works of architects of the 17th century, Moscow and Rus' were transformed... mamlas wrote in May 19th, 2016

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The rise of Russian architecture
Architects and craftsmen of pre-Petrine Rus' / Creators / Article 2007

To this day in Moscow and some other ancient Russian cities and monasteries, outlandish buildings of the 17th century have been preserved, in which Russian art was not yet too susceptible to foreign influence. In that distant pre-Petrine age, the rise of Russian architecture became especially noticeable. More in "Creators"

The new Izmailovo Kremlin, built in the style of “pre-Petrine” Moscow

At first, after the destructive Time of Troubles, it was only about recreating the destroyed and dilapidated buildings of the Kremlin. Some of them were repaired already in 1613, on the day of the crowning of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov. Then new large works began - in 1625, to install a clock over the Frolovskaya (now Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin), a three-tiered top was built under the “supervision” of the stone workers of the apprentice Bazhen Ogurtsov and his comrades Stepan Osipovich Karaulov and Grigory Zagryazhsky. The “English land watch and water platoon master” Christopher Galovey took part in the design and construction of the tent and clock.

Terem Palace in the Kremlin

Three floors of the Terem Palace were erected on the leveled vaults of the middle part of the Workshop Chambers.

Simultaneously with the construction of the Terem Palace in 1635, above the Small Golden Chamber, at the level of the Front Stone Courtyard, the same craftsmen erected the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands (later Verkhospassky Cathedral), with the chapel of John of Belgorod (now John the Baptist). Soon after this, Antip Konstantinov built a unique temple of Hodegetria of Smolensk in the Vyazemsky St. John the Baptist Monastery, which had three stone tent-tops located in one row.

"The Eighth Wonder of the World"

An exemplary building of the 17th century, made of traditional wooden structures, was the palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow. It was built in 1667-1678 by an artel under the leadership of the headman Semyon Petrov and the archer Ivan Mikhailov, who worked as a carpenter, in the form of several towers connected by bizarre passages. Unfortunately, the palace itself has not survived - after standing for about 100 years, it became very dilapidated and was dismantled in 1768, but its images in engravings and enthusiastic descriptions of contemporaries have been preserved.

Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow

In addition to the Kremlin one, another famous Moscow tower has reached us, built in 1693–1694 by Osip Dmitrievich Startsev and Larion Kovalev. The Teremok is located in the Krutitsky courtyard and is a real pearl of architecture. The Krutitsa courtyard has been known since the end of the 13th century; it was located on the high bank of the Moscow River, on Krutitsy. The buildings that have survived to this day appeared at the beginning of the 17th century.

The most well preserved are the main Holy Gates with the famous Gate Tower. Its front side was entirely covered with tiles. The gate, decorated with Teremko, led to the metropolitan’s garden, which was called paradise.

Special mention should be made about the main builder of the Krutitsky Teremok.

Osip Startsev developed special techniques for stone decoration. “Cock combs”, which he placed on the fence of the yard of boyar I.M. Yazykov on Bolshaya Nikitskaya, were subsequently widely used by many Russian architects.

One big thing was followed by another - in 1685 Osip Startsev completed the construction of the Refectory Chamber in the Simonov Monastery, which had begun in 1677 by apprentice Parfen Potapov.

Startsev's other works are also known: in 1676, he supervised the tiling of the State Yard. Since 1681, he was involved in the reconstruction of the tower churches and the construction of the Verkhospassky Cathedral, the dismantling of the cookhouses of the Kormovy, Khlebny, Sytny courtyards, and the restructuring of the Prikaz Grand Palace. In the 1690s, he rebuilt the chambers of the Ambassadorial and Little Russian orders.

Another famous architect Averky Mokeev built the Patriarchal Chambers in the Moscow Kremlin (1643-1655), a number of buildings of the Valdai Monastery (1650s) and, finally, the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery (1656-1685) on the Istra River near Moscow - the largest building in church architecture of that era. Another Moscow master, Ivan Belozer, helped him bring the grandiose plan of Patriarch Nikon to life. The architects were given the difficult task of creating a monastery on Russian soil, the main cathedral of which would reproduce in plan the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord in Jerusalem. In the course of their work, Mokeev and Belozer used an exact model and drawings of the main Christian shrine and successfully completed an honorable and complex patriarchal order.

The churches erected by Pavel Sidorovich Potekhin are very interesting: the Trinity Church in the village of Ostankino near Moscow (1678-1693), the Church of St. Nicholas in Khamovniki (1679), the Church of St. Cosma and Damian in Sadovniki (1657-1662). ). In the Makarievo-Zheltovodsky monastery, Potekhin builds the Holy Gate and the gate church of the Archangel Michael. His famous artel employed 93 craftsmen, among whom were not only masons, but also stone and wood carvers, carpenters, blacksmiths, and even icon painters and gilders. All of them were professionals of the highest class, but each of them could, if necessary, replace each other.

Moscow Baroque

At the end of the 17th century, noticeable changes took place in Russian architecture, as a result of which a new direction was established in architecture, known as the “Moscow (or “Naryshkin”) baroque.” A classic example of construction of this style is the Church of the Intercession in Fili (1693-1694), created by order of the uncle of Tsar Peter I Lev Kirillovich Naryshkin, presumably by Yakov Grigorievich Bukhvostov. Not inferior to it in beauty is the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands (1693-1697) in Ubory near Moscow, the builder of which was undoubtedly the same Yakov Bukhvostov. The temple was built by him “like bells,” that is, the upper tier of the high temple also served as a belfry.

Church of the Intercession in Fili

The church was tall and slender. However, during its existence it was rebuilt, and its original decorative decoration, characteristic of the Russian Baroque of the late 17th century, was not preserved.

It has long been noted that Bukhvostov’s churches were not rebuilt - their form was so perfect.

Some of this beauty has survived to this day. Will it be preserved, will it not be lost behind the strange-looking new high-rise buildings scraping the sky?..

Photo: Terem Palace of the Kremlin and Verkhospassky Cathedral

TEREM PALACE

Not many Muscovites know that there is a fabulous palace in the Kremlin, built under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov in the 17th century. And very few had a chance to visit the royal tower.

Since ancient times, according to the chronicles, even under the Grand Duke Ivan Kalita, the Terem Palace stood in the Kremlin. It was made of wood, cut from centuries-old oak. Most likely, that palace was built by Yuri Dolgoruky, the Royal Tower was erected not far from the Church of the Archangel Michael.

Grand-ducal mansions were built for many centuries according to a single canon: high hipped roofs with a hipped roof in the form of a barrel with a gilded copper comb on top, with wide double windows decorated with patterned carvings. Gilded decorations of the towers, windows made of multi-colored mica, bright painting of the platbands - everything gave the towers an elegant, festive look. Against the backdrop of the gray townsmen's huts, the Tsar's Terem seemed fabulous.

When in the 15th century At the behest of Tsar Ivan III, a stone one was erected on the site of a wooden palace; its architectural appearance differed little from the wooden ancient Terem. Under Ivan III, great construction began in the Kremlin. The main temples, walls, towers and loopholes were rebuilt. They were built mainly by Italian masters, but their art did not have a significant influence on Russian architecture. Thus, for the main Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, the Italian architect Aristotle Fioravanti took the ancient Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir as a model.

It is known that from ancient times until Peter I, all buildings in Rus' were erected according to centuries-old traditions. Over the course of many centuries, both wooden and stone palaces burned more than once, and the city was destroyed to the ground during enemy invasion, but both the Kremlin and Moscow were rebuilt again and again. Fortunately, the Terem Palace of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, built in 1636 according to the model of the ancient royal mansions, has been perfectly preserved to this day.

Dear reader! I will take you through these ancient chambers of the Royal Tower and tell you what impression viewing them makes on foreign guests.

It was a long time ago, it was December 1956... I accompanied the wonderful French actors Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, showed them the Armory, the Grand Kremlin Palace, and the Kremlin cathedrals. But here I would like to tell you in detail what impression the visit to the Terem Palace made on the guests.

The wonderful Frenchmen were accompanied by representatives of the French Embassy, ​​senior officials from the Ministry of Culture, the press, translators, and photojournalists. Everyone was talking noisily, but when we ascended the Verkhospasskaya platform and approached the Golden Porch leading to the ancient chambers of the kings, everyone immediately fell silent. The guests saw the portal of the porch shining with gold and purple, sculpted stone lions froze at the parapets, and it was “scary” to climb the steps of the stone staircase, decorated with marvelous carvings. Finally, everyone went up to the Front Room, or Entrance Hall, where the boyars' close associates gathered in the morning to testify their devotion to the sovereign. The king sometimes held meals here, so this room was also called the Refectory. The painting of the walls and ceiling of the room is of amazing beauty: an elegant floral pattern emphasizes the significance of religious subjects. The upholstery of antique furniture is made in the colors of the wall paintings. Everything was done by Russian craftsmen.

Here, in complete silence, I began my story and invited the guests to the next chamber - the Duma, or Cathedral, also called the Cross. The Boyar Duma met there and discussed issues of national importance. The walls and vaulted ceiling of this room are designed in blue tones, even the glass windows are blue and white. From the Cathedral Chamber we proceed to the Sovereign's office, or the Throne Room, where the royal chair (throne) stood.

The sovereign's room is the tsar's study, where he spent a lot of time, talked with close people, gave dinners “without ranks,” where everyone occupied a place without taking into account nobility, family and rank.

In 1660, a council took place in the Throne Room - the church trial of Patriarch Nikon. The Council decided here, in the presence of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, to deprive Nikon of the “patriarchal throne and honor.”

The altar room is the most elegant, the most picturesque, where both the walls and the ceiling are completely painted, the predominant color is red, with gilding all over it. Benches, chairs - everything is upholstered in crimson velvet. Painted tabletop with a gilded base on figured legs. The king's chair is also covered with crimson velvet. The walls depict the coats of arms of the regions of Russia. In the corner there is a round stove, intricately decorated with red tiles. The glass of the windows, to match the decoration of the room - red and white, is covered with copper frames. When rare rays of the sun peek into the Terem, it truly seems fabulous.

The royal chambers are closed by a bedchamber, in the center of which stands a dark wood bed, decorated with relief carvings. Above the bed there is a canopy - “sky”, as they said in the old days. The tiled stove, furniture upholstery - everything matches the skillful wall painting. From the bedchamber the door opens to the royal chapel, where two carved gilded iconostases with icons from the 17th–18th centuries have been preserved. The well-mannered French guests were embarrassed to enter the chapel, but asked the question: “Where did the Russian queens live?” I had to tell you that the women's residential half of the palace was always built separately and, unfortunately, has not been preserved, but the reception hall of the Russian queens - the Golden Tsarina's Chamber - has survived. At that time, restoration work was going on there, and, opening the door to the chamber, from where the luxurious painting of the walls was partially visible, I said: “This is how Patriarch Jeremiah, who was received by Queen Irina in 1589, described the decoration of the Golden Queen’s Chamber. pure gold, decorated with numerous sculptural images of birds and animals made of precious metals.” Bishop Arseny added: “... the walls of the Chamber seemed to be covered with gold and glowed.”

I continue to talk, and the French guests not only do not exchange words, but somehow strangely freeze at my words: “... the splendor of Queen Irina’s outfit, according to Bishop Arseny, who accompanied Patriarch Jeremiah, plunged all those present “into a kind of quiet horror”... The slightest part this splendor would be enough to adorn ten sovereigns.” I fell silent... Simone Signoret sighed quietly...

We pass through the Holy Entrance to the Chamber of Facets. At that time, the chamber, built in the 15th century. by Italian architects Marco and Antonio Solari, it was the largest and most magnificent hall in Rus', the area of ​​which reached 495 m and a height of 9 m. For five centuries, receptions, state meetings, and military victories were celebrated in the Faceted Chamber. In 1552, Ivan the Terrible threw a three-day lavish feast to celebrate his victory over Kazan. Peter 1 celebrated a brilliant victory over the Swedes near Poltava here in 1709, and Catherine the Great gave a dinner in honor of the commanders who defeated Turkey in 1774. During such solemn celebrations, the tables and supplies in the Faceted Chamber were bursting with gold and silver dishes, from a pile of food.

The light falling from eighteen windows illuminated the magnificent wall paintings made by Palekh craftsmen according to 17th-century inventories. Talking about it, I showed the guests images of Russian princes and tsars from the time of Vladimir Monomakh. This is where the excursion ended. Completely stunned and delighted by what they saw, the distinguished guests, saying goodbye, said: “It seems to us that we have been in a fairy tale. No, we visited ancient Russia, we could not imagine such a miracle!”

But the guests did not examine another very interesting room - the Children's Room. It amazes with the grace and richness of the white stone carvings. Above the entrance, an inscription carved in stone says that the room was built by order of Tsar Mikhail Romanov for the princes Alexei and Ivan. It is surrounded by an open terrace - a walkway, on the western side of which a small watchtower was built. From the tower site, a picturesque view of the city, its streets and alleys, the domes of churches, and the colorful panorama of the capital unexpectedly opens up.

Dear reader! When you walk hastily along Vozdvizhenka towards the Trinity Gate, look at the Kremlin - you will see this pointed colored turret and the roof of the Terem - gable, bright, red and white, with a high crest - and the golden domes of the churches of the Terem Palace.

Six churches have been preserved here, the unique decoration of which, created by Russian masters, is rightfully considered a masterpiece of not only domestic, but also European art.

A special place in the Terem Palace is occupied by the Verkhospassky Cathedral, built in the 17th century. The entrance to the church is locked with a golden lattice, which is why the cathedral is also known as the Savior behind the Golden Lattice. A painting from the 17th century has been preserved on the vaults of the temple. The wooden carved gilded iconostasis also contains icons from the 17th century, made by the Kremlin painter Fyodor Zubov. In this cathedral, the tsars baptized their children, and on the day they came of age they were declared heirs to the throne; all Russian tsars from Mikhail Romanov to Peter I prayed here. This is a chamber, house cathedral of the royal family. Built at different times, tower churches in the 17th century. were brought under one roof by master mason Osip Startsev. Eleven gilded domes were placed on the roof, above the domes of which golden openwork crosses glowed. These domes are clearly visible from behind the Kremlin walls.

The Kremlin ensemble is wonderful and unique! It is difficult not to agree with Lermontov: “It is impossible to describe neither the Kremlin, nor its battlements, nor its dark passages, nor its magnificent palaces... You must see, see...”