The building's most conspicuous elevation, that facing south, was given an imposing but severe stone-faced façade divided into four equal arched bays by tall pilasters rising through a traditional band of blind arcades with ornamental colonnettes.

The Cathedral of the Dormition (Russian: Успенский Собор, Uspensky Sobor) is the mother church of Muscovite Russia. Fioravanti was known as a structural engineer and the cathedral needed to be rebuilt following an earthquake. Commissioned by Ivan III, the layout of the building was dictated by Russian tradition and was required to be modelled in particular on the cathedral of the Dormition (rebuilt 1185-1189) in Vladimir-Suzdal'.