Dormition Cathedral

The Dormition Cathedral (Uspensky Sobor) is the central Orthodox cathedral inside the Moscow Kremlin and the oldest fully preserved building in the city. Built in 1475-1479 by the Italian Renaissance architect Aristotele Fioravanti for Ivan III, its five-domed form follows the older Vladimir Cathedral but combines Italian engineering with Russian shape. From 1547 to 1896 every tsar from Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II was crowned here; the metropolitans and patriarchs of Moscow are buried within. The towering iconostasis rises to the vaults, with icons from the 14th to 17th centuries. Today a museum, part of the Kremlin UNESCO World Heritage site.