St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda

St. Sophia Cathedral in Vologda was founded in 1568. Three years earlier, Tsar Ivan the Terrible declared Vologda the capital of his Oprichnina state. The importance of Vologda at this time grew significantly, and the tsar decided to build a cathedral here on the model of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the main temple of Russia.