Of course, the Kolomenskoye Museum is considered an important sight of Moscow, but the Ascension Church located on the bank of the Moscow river was also listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
The Grand Prince of Moscow Vassiliy III had it built in the village Kolomenskoye in 1528-1532 to commemorate the birth of his son Ivan, the future first Russian tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. The other buildings of the tsar`s summer residence, including the wooden palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and the Church of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, appeared a century later.
The height of the Ascension Church is 62 meters. It is the first tent-shaped church in Russia. Wall pillars and strong podklet (lower floor) made it possible to build a temple of unusual proportions. Actually, it is a tower church built on a grand scale. It is for its architectural features that the church was given the status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Ascension Church was supposedly designed by a Italian architect nicknamed Peter Fryazin, but there are no exact data confirming it.
The inner area of the church isn`t very big, only about 100 square meters, but it is encircled by a beautiful roofed gallery. The throne of Ivan the Terrible survived in the gallery. It is from that place one can have a beautiful view of the bend of the Moscow river.
