Description of the attraction
The Cathedral of the Savior Image Not Made by Hands (Verkhospassky) is located on Cathedral Square, on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. The temple was built in 1635-1636 under Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
A group of architects worked on the construction of the temple: Bazhen Ogurtsov, Trefil Sharutin, Larion Ushakov and Antip Konstantinov. The cathedral was renovated in 1678-80. In 1681-82 the temple was united with the Church of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Word. They were united by a common roof and eleven chapters were erected on it. The chapters are on thin, tall drums that are richly decorated with majolica. Drawings for majolica and crosses were made by the famous carver Elder Hippolytus. O. D. Startsev.
The Verkhospassky Cathedral was located near the royal chambers. Tsars from Mikhail Fedorovich to Peter I performed church rituals in the church. Tsars' children were baptized here and prayers were performed on the day the princes came of age, when they were declared heirs to the throne. From this cathedral there was a staircase to the "boyar site", from where the royal decrees and orders were read to the boyars. Here the tsar "bestowed" the boyars and fellow men with birthday pies. The uppermost landing of the stairs is fenced with a copper, gilded lattice.
The cathedral was badly damaged during the war of 1812. Leaving Moscow, the enemy plundered the temple and damaged the paintings on its walls. In 1836 the cathedral was restored and refurbished. The temple was also damaged during the 1917 revolution.
In our time, the two-height quadrangle of the Spassky Church, covered with a vault with stripping, is visible only from the inside. Interior decoration and paintings date back to the second half of the 18th century. Under the fresh painting, the 1680 murals have been preserved in places. The cathedral has a carved wooden iconostasis in the Baroque style. The middle part of the iconostasis is closed with a frame up to the second tier. The salary is made of chased silver. The salary was installed on the iconostasis in 1778. The icons of the 17th century, painted by the masters Fyodor Zubov, Leonty Stepanov and Sergei Kostromitin, have survived in the cathedral. Miraculously survived in the refectory round stoves, decorated with an etched tile from the late 17th century.
Since 1990, the Cathedral of the Savior Not Made by Hands, together with the rest of the Terem churches, has been referred to as "government buildings". There is no access for tourists and visitors to these temples.
