The “pearl” of the Yaroslavl Kremlin—indeed, of the entire ancient Rostov-Yaroslavl diocese—is the Uspensky Cathedral. It was the city's first church to be built of stone, as early as the beginning of the 13th century. Before that, mostly wooden churches were built—right up until the fire of 1658.
The interior decoration of the church was very rich: the walls were adorned with stone carvings, the floor was laid with majolica, and the doors featured decorative elements of gilded copper. However, at the very beginning of the 16th century, a fire broke out in the cathedral and its vaults collapsed.
But, as is well known, every cloud has a silver lining: while clearing the rubble, they discovered the remains of the Yaroslavl princes buried here in the 13th century—Vasily and Konstantin Vsevolodovich. The latter, incidentally, was the founder of this church. It was by his order that the construction of the Uspensky Cathedral began in 1215.
In 1516, the newly rebuilt church on this very site was consecrated. During the Time of Troubles, it was in the Uspensky Cathedral that Dmitry Pozharsky received the metropolitan's blessing for the campaign to liberate Moscow.
All the centuries that followed also left their mark on the church: it was rebuilt, restored, turned over to a labor exchange, and even used as a grain warehouse, and in 1937 the church... was blown up. A city park was laid out on the vacant lot that appeared in its place.
With the arrival of the 2000s, it was decided to restore the Uspensky Cathedral. In 2010, Patriarch Kirill consecrated the fully completed church. It differs strikingly from its predecessor and is noticeably larger in size. However, people preserve the memory of the history of this place and still come here with love and prayer.
