The Ascension Church was built in 1566 on the orders of Tsar Ivan the terrible. The church was built without any pillars and has a cross vault and an attached bell tower. The church is also known as St Isidor's Church as it is built on the tomb of St Isidor of Rostov. St Isidor was a 15th century holy fool originally from Brandenburg who settled in Rostov. He was a favourite saint of Tsar Ivan who credited the Conquest of Polotsk in 1563 to the intervention of St Isidor, hence the later construction of this church. The church was decorated inside with frescoes in the 1720s which were subsequently refreshed several times, meaning they survive to this day. Closed in 1930 and transferred to the Rostov Museum of Antiquities, it only started holding services again in 2002.