[Photo from moscow.info]

Discover the glories of Orthodox architecture in one of the world's great religious centers.

Moscow's claim to be the Third Rome was a reflection of its perceived role as the eastern center of Christian civilization after the fall of Constantinople. To better establish the city's credentials, a succession of Russian rulers vied with posterity to build ever more majestic and exquisite places of worship. Taking their cue from the cathedrals of Byzantium and the wooden churches of the older Russian principalities, generations of Russian and foreign architects made their contributions to the glory of God on earth, ranging in scale from the vast Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the recently restored neoclassical edifice that has become a symbol of Moscow's post-Soviet revival, to the more discrete charms of the medieval churches in the Kolomenskoe Park-Museum.

Cathedrals

In an age when church and state were all but inseparable, cathedrals became the ultimate symbol of power and prestige. Moscow's cathedrals, which date from the depths of the Middle Ages right up to the present day, are widely different in style, but all have the power to awe and entrance in equal measure.

Monasteries and Convents

Moscow's rise to political prominence in medieval Russia is inextricably linked to its importance as a religious centre, and this is reflected in the large number of monasteries and convents that were established in the city from the 12th Century onwards. The constant threat of attack from Mongol Tartar forces, among others, led Moscow's early rulers to establish a chain of citadel monasteries around the old city, and these have become some of the most important centers of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the official residence of the Russian Patriarch.

Although the Bolshevik government disbanded all of Moscow's monasteries after the Revolution, and used the buildings for a variety of more or less insalubrious purposes, including a Museum of Atheism and a prison camp, some of the sites were returned to the Church after the Second World War and, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the remainder have all found their way back into Church hands. Extensive work has been going on to restore these architectural treasures to their former splendor.