SAINT BYZANTINE EMPERORS AND RUSSIAN PRINCES
ClosePillars depict figures of Byzantine Emperors and Russian Princes.
The place for these frescoes was chosen for a good reason—the Tsar’s Prayer Place occupied by the sovereign during the divine service once adjoined the east side of the south-west pillar. There are no accurate records about the time when it was placed in the cathedral, but a number of facts suggest that it had already been placed there in the 16th century. The Tsar’s Prayer Place corresponded to the images of Alexander Nevsky and Ivan Kalita painted on the north-west pillar. Images of the saints reminded the ruling tsar of the evanescence of the worldly glory and eternal angelic glory. Murals include images of St Constantine and St Helena, Emperor Michael and Empress Theodora, Grand Prince St Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles and Grand Princess St Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles; Russian princes Vladimir Monomach and Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, Alexander Nevsky and Ivan Kalita, Dmitry Donskoy and his son Vassily; warrior saints George the Victorious and Demetrius of Thessaloniki, first Russian saints—Princes Boris and Gleb; and St Peter, the Metropolitan.
