Archbishop Palace in Suzdal Kremlin photo

In 15 century near the Nativity Cathedral a palace was built for the Archbishop of Suzdal. For two centuries the Archbishop Palace was finished and expanded, and now it is an interesting monument of Suzdal.

Nowadays there is a museum in the Archbishop Palace. It will be very interesting to see the Refectory chamber, the House episcopal refectory church, various residential buildings, although the Cross Chamber is of main artistic and architectural value.

The Cross Chamber is an enormous room for ceremonial receptions on the first floor. Its area reaches 330 square meters (26 by 13 meters), the ceiling height is 7.5 meters. It was built in 17 century. Craftmen were able to build such a large room with heavy vaults that are supported neither by columns nor other supports.

In other rooms of the Archbishop Palace there are expositions where you can knew the history of Suzdal principality during its heyday. By a passage you can go to the bell tower housing the exposition «Iordan Sen» devoted to the Epiphany. Iordan Sen is a wooden tabernacle that was set up above the ice-hole where believers had a dip on the Epiphany. In Russia this is the only surviving specimen.