Moscow museums · Architecture and estates
Architecture and estates · since 1955
The Kremlin Cathedrals
Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin
The iconostasis of the Annunciation Cathedral is linked with the names of Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev and Prokhor of Gorodets: the chronicle for 1405 names them as the painters of this church, though whether the present icons are that same work is still argued. Such a conjunction of names exists nowhere else. And the difference from any museum of icons is one of principle: the things stand where they stood, in the light and the space they were painted for — as the glass at Canterbury is one thing in the window and quite another in a case. What is not here is explanation: the cathedrals carry almost no labels and are meant for someone who already knows, or who came with a guide.
Minimum route
2–2.5 hours
Founded
1955
Today
09:30–18:00
What to see
The deesis tier of the Annunciation Cathedral. The frescoes of the Dormition Cathedral, 1642–1644, and its iconostasis; there too the oldest icons, brought to Moscow as the lands were gathered in. The tombs of the Moscow princes and tsars in the Archangel Cathedral, painted 1652–1666. The Patriarch’s Palace: applied art and the household of the seventeenth century.
Minimum route — 2–2.5 hours for the essentials
Two hours.
- 40 minutesthe Dormition Cathedral: iconostasis, frescoes, the tsar’s seat of Ivan the Terrible.
- 30 minutesthe Annunciation: the deesis tier and the floor of agate jasper.
- 30 minutesthe Archangel: tombs and painting.
- 20 minutesthe Patriarch’s Palace and the Church of the Twelve Apostles.
Reference
About the museum
The ensemble took shape from the end of the fifteenth century: the Dormition Cathedral was built by Aristotele Fioravanti in 1475–1479, the Archangel Cathedral by Aloisio the New in 1505–1508. The Kremlin became a museum in 1955, when it was opened to free entry.
The building
Three cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, the Ivan the Great bell tower and the Patriarch’s Palace are themselves the chief thing here. The Dormition was built by an Italian who took a twelfth-century church at Vladimir for his model: a rare case of a foreign master working not in his own tradition but in someone else’s.
Good to know
Services are held in the Dormition and Archangel cathedrals, and entry is closed during them. Photography inside the cathedrals is forbidden. The Ivan the Great bell tower needs a separate, timed ticket.
What to read
Viktor Lazarev, “The Russian Icon: From Its Origins to the Sixteenth Century” — after this book an iconostasis stops being a wall of pictures and becomes a connected text, read tier by tier. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1997.
ISBN 0814624529
What people who know say
what the place is
The Mosco it selfe is great: I take the whole towne to bee greater then London with the suburbes: but it is very rude, and standeth without all order. […] There is a faire Castle, the walles whereof are of bricke, and very high: they say they are eighteene foote thicke, but I doe not beleeue it, it doth not so seeme, notwithstanding I doe not certainely know it: for no stranger may come to viewe it. […] The Emperour lieth in the castle, wherein are nine fayre Churches, and therein are religious men.
Getting in
Addresschecked 16 August 2026, the museum website
How to get there
Metro Biblioteka imeni Lenina, Aleksandrovsky Sad, Borovitskaya or Arbatskaya. In through the Kutafya Tower, then across the Trinity Bridge and past the Armoury.
Opening timeschecked 16 August 2026, the museum website
closed for the day
| Mon–Wed, Fri–Sun today | 09:30–18:00 |
| Thu | closed |
Closed on Thursdays. Summer and winter hours differ. One ticket covers the whole group: three cathedrals, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe and the Patriarch’s Palace.
When to go
A weekday morning, out of season. The cathedrals are dark, and in a crowd there is simply no getting to the iconostasis; in rain it is noticeably freer here, and there is somewhere to shelter.
Contacts
kreml.ru · +7 495 695-41-46
Of interest to children
The cathedrals ask for preparation: without the telling they are dark rooms with unreadable pictures. From 9, and only with a guide.
· No. 60