The Ascension Church at Nikitskie Vorota is often called the Grand Ascension Church to distinguish it from the smaller Ascension Church on Ulitsa Bolshaya Nitskaya.  Indeed grand is a good description of this neo-classical church which is one of the largest parish churches in Moscow.  It was built between 1798 and 1816 on the orders of Prince Grigori Potemkin.  According to one legend, Prince Potemkin secretly married Catherine the Great in the original Ascension Church which stood here.  The church is famous for another marriage that certainly took place here - the marriage of Aleksandr Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova.  The church was closed between 1931 and 1990.

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