Interior of Dormition Cathedral Photo

Photographer’s Note

After the end of the wars agains Tartars and the victory over the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrakhan, the tsar Ivan IV (The Terrible), who had a particular veneration for St. Sergius of Radonezh, bagan building a large and beautiful church on the grounds of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra dedicated to the Dormition (Assumption) of the Mother God (Virgin Mary), a copy of the main cathedral of Moscow Kremlin. This impressive big church with beautiful cupolas (domes) had been on construction about 26 years (1559-1585) and was finished only after the death of the first Russian tsar.

The maginificent frescoes of this Cathedral were created in 1684 (in 1 century after the building was erected) by 35 painters in a 100 days (about 3 moths). The frescoes cover the area of 500 square meters and some of them you can see on right and left colums on this picture. On the background here you can see very tall, 5-tier iconostasis (a screen with icons deviding the sanctuary from nave) which consists of 76 icons dated back to the 16th-17th centuries. The celebrated seventeeth-century painter Simon Ushakov, the royal icon painter, took part in the creation of the iconostasis.

In the Dormition Cathedral there are two shrines with the holy relics of St. Filaret (Drozdov, 1867), placed near left column, and St. Innokenty (Veniaminov, 1879), placed near right column, Metropolitans of Moscow.

PS: on March 4th I posted better shot with my comments on TrekLens: "Interior of Dormition Cathedral v2"

With BEST Regards,
Arthur Lookyanov
Private Guide & Personal Driver in Moscow
Tour to Sergiev Posad

noborders, nels, maximage, branley, thor68, ncosmin has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

danyy (62955) 2007-03-01 9:01

Bonjour Arthur,
un intérieur sompteux dans lequel rien ne nous échappe, les dorures sont rutilantes et brillantes. Le cadrage est juste comme il faut avec cette légère perspective qui donne de la profondeur.
Amitié de Liège.
Daniel.

nels (2447) 2007-03-01 10:36

hi arthur,, these old cathedrals are quite stunning places with their high and decrative walls and ceilings your image is sharp and crystal clear,, along with your great notes i feel as though i have been there regards

adrian

maximage (12131) 2007-03-01 12:36

Bonsoir Arthur,
Très belle image de l'intérieur de cette Cathédral.
Décors riches et somptueux.
Image bien cadrée, lumière bien gérée et netteté parfaite.
Amicalement.
max

carper (60991) 2007-03-01 13:12

a fantastic one Arthur my friend,
great details in the fantastic church, fantastic photo job here with much fantastic details, good photo, with my compliments.
gr. jaap

Silvio1953 (36399) 2007-03-01 14:30

Hi Arthur, interior of church is always very difficult, great image of fascinating architecture with splendid light and colors, very well done, ciao Silvio

Cormac (26423) 2007-03-01 17:10

Great interior shot! I know that it can be quite dark inside these old cathedrals, so this is very impressive. The detail of the decoration is well seen, and is very beautiful - thanks for sharing this!

aadilj (16697) 2007-03-03 2:50

Well Arthur, this is perhaps the best thing happend to this place after its construction! Your image is absolutely great which captures the ambience so well and spells out the fine details with finesse. The gold and all that archtecture are so rich and so well brought out by you.

branley (3681) 2007-03-05 5:11

Hi Arthur,

it's obvious you're a good tourist guide by your note. You've done well to capture good light on the inside of this magnificent cathedral. The central pov gives good symmetry to the image and it's crystal clear showing great detail all around. A fine shot and well seen.

Regards

Stephen

thor68 (5389) 2007-05-09 15:04

wow, what a richly decorated church, arthur! :-)
terrific inside-view with perfect lighting, wonderful details and beautiful colors shown
in a superb symmetrical composition.
well done & spassibo bolshoi, thor.

noborders (14250) 2008-01-04 7:45

So beautiful and so interesting ! Light is fantastic, I suppose that you were using a tripod ? It is true that the TL version is even better, but I would not have noticed what you mentioned there, I am impressed !
My only regret is that there is nobody around ; with a pious woman, seen from behind, the photo would have been more lively - but this is a personal taste, of course...
Compliments,
Best regards,
Cath.