Annunciation cathedral was laid down by Ivan the Terrible shortly after the seizure of Kazan in 1552. But at first it was only a small wooden church, and the construction of the today cathedral began only 10 years later, in 1561.
Now Annunciation cathedral is one of the oldest stone buildings of the Kazan Kremlin (along with Soyembika Tower). For the past 500 years it was repeatedly burnt, rebuilt and significantly reconstructed. As a result, the capacity of the cathedral was increased by more than two times and it became one of the largest cathedrals in Russia.
The stone Annunciation cathedral was built by the masters from Pskov Jacob Postnik and Ivan Shiryay. The architecture of the cathedral preserves the features of Pskov school, although it was modelled after the Assumption cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Five years earlier Jacob Postnik and another master built the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow.
Up to 1918 Annunciation cathedral was the main church of Kazan. The relics of archimandrite Guriy are the sacred thing of Annunciation cathedral. The cathedral was enlarged after the fire of 1855. And after that it remained intact to our days. On the vaults of the western part of the cathedral there was made a beautiful painting devoted to the history of Kazan.
