Kremlin

President of Russia

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THE PATRIARCH’S PALACE AND THE CHURCH OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES |

| Moscow Kremlin

Administrative buildings | The Kremlin Towers | The Kremlin Cathedrals | Squares and Gardens

The Cathedral of the Assumption

The Cathedral of the Annunciation

The Cathedral of the Archangel

The Church of St. Ioann Lestvichnik and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower

The Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe in Vlachernon

The Patriarch’s Palace and the Church of the Twelve Apostles

The Verkhospassky Cathedral and the Terem Churches

The Cathedral of the Intercession (of St. Basil the Blessed)

The Kazansky Cathedral

The Patriarch’s Palace and the Church of the Twelve Apostles

To the north of the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower are the Patriarch’s Chambers and the small five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles built in 1635-1656 by Russian craftsmen Antip Konstantinov and Bazhen Ogurtsov on the orders of Patriarch Nikon. The Church of the Twelve Apostles covered the site of an older church and part of Boris Godunov’s court. The roof and the crosses of the church were covered with copper plates and gilded. In 1680 the church was reconstructed and given its present name.

In both its size and exquisite interior, the Patriarch’s Palace rivaled the royal Terem Palace. It housed a rich Patriarch’s vestry. Under Peter I, the palace was taken over by the Moscow office of the Holy Synod. The vestry and the palace were damaged during bombardment in 1917. In 1929, a wonderful 17th-century iconostasis was brought to the church from the Voznesensky Convent, whose church had been demolished.

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