The Chambers of the Uglich Princes are also called the Chambers of Andrey the Big. He was the youngest son of Prince Vasily II of Moscow. In 1462, Andrey became the appanage prince of Uglich and ruled there until 1491. Under him, Uglich reached its highest heyday.
Under Prince Andrew, large-scale construction began in Uglich. The fortress walls of the Kremlin were expanded from the Stone Stream to the small river Shelkovka. These borders of the Uglich Kremlin have survived to this day, but since the fortress wall was wooden, it was dismantled two centuries later.
Prince Andrey the Big also built a large wooden palace in the Kremlin, and in 1482 he erected a stone throne chamber, which has survived to this day. The buildings of the wooden palace have not been preserved due to dilapidation. The stone Chambers of the Uglich Princes is one of the oldest examples of secular architecture.
There are many stone chambers of the 17th century preserved in Russia, there are samples of the 16th century, but there are few secular buildings of the 15th century in Russia. In the Novgorod Kremlin, the Episcopal Chamber (1433) has been preserved, in the Moscow Kremlin there is a Faceted Chamber (1487). In Moscow Zaryadye Park, an English courtyard built at the end of the 15th century has been preserved. Together with the Chambers of Uglich Princes, there are 4 secular buildings of the 15th century in Russia.
Initially, the stone Chambers of the Uglich Princes was three-storied, but the cultural layer of the earth has grown by more than a meter over the past 5 centuries and now the first floor of the chamber is underground. The Chambers of Uglich Princes houses an exposition of one of the most interesting museums in Uglich. There you can see historical interiors with tiled stoves and low arches. Among the exhibits are the most valuable items of church utensils, decorative and applied art of the 17th and 19th centuries.
