Photos

The cupolas of Annunciation Cathedral in the afternoon.....

The Annunciation Cathedral is the oldest extant building(1561-62) of the Kazan Kremlin. Like many old buildings of Kazan, it is constructed of local pale sandstone rather than of brick.

The Annunciation cathedral - a witness and a preserver of history of the Kremlin and Kazan, many pages of history of the State Russia are connected with it.

The history of The Annunciation cathedral as archpriest A.Yablokov wrote about those years dates to time when «in the Kazan Tatar land Russian civilization just began to settle down and for the first time light of Christianity started to shine". The wooden church in the name of Annunciation has become a temple Sanctifier's chair when on July 28, 1555 here archbishop Gury arrived to head newly founded Kazan diocese.

This cathedral in the Kazan Kremlin became the center of religious - educational life and a stronghold of spreading Christianity in territory.

The cathedral's attribution to the half-legendary Postnik Yakovlev is purely speculative. The cathedral belltower, which was erected in five tiers at the urging of Ivan the Terrible and was scored to resemble the Ivan the Great Belltower in Moscow, was pulled down by the Soviets in 1930.

More info on www.tatar.ru