Date

Circa 1910

The palace is behind the cathedral; it is connected by passages to the palace apartments. One of the major buildings in the Cathedral Square, it served as the household church of the grand-princes, later the tsars, and it is connected by passages to the palace apartments. The first stone cathedral of the Annunciation (Blagoveshchensky) was built on this site in the late 14th century. In 1482-1483 it was pulled down to the level of the crypt, and in 1484-1489 masons from Pskov built the present cathedral on the existing foundations. It is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Theotokos (Virgin). The later north and west portals (1564), with their splendid Renaissance carving, are similar to those of the cathedral of the Archangel Michael and are clearly of Italian workmanship.