Inside the Kremlin

Dormition Cathedral

The main cathedral in the kremlin is the Dormition Cathedral. The original Dormition Cathedral was built in 1379 on the orders of Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich . It was here that Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich prayed before his victory at the Battle of Kulikovo Field where he earned the epithet 'Donskoy'. The cathedral holds a revered copy of the Our Lady of the Don Icon which was given to Dmitri Donskoy by the Don Cossacks before the battle (the original is held in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery). This original cathedral was demolished in 1672 due to its dilapidation. The current version of the cathedral was built between 1672 and 1682 in the standard white-stone, four column, cross-in-square architectural style with four green domes and one central golden one.  In 1929 the cathedral was closed and looted by the Bolsheviks, it was only returned to the Orthodox Church in 1989.

Location Sobornaya Ploschad