Every monument in the Moscow Kremlin ensemble has its special role, but none is more august than the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, the royal burial shrine. As the supreme archangel, Michael was revered as the leader of the heavenly hosts and was usually portrayed holding a sword. The emblem of divine power, Archangel Michael was seen as the fitting protector of Muscovy’s rulers. The Archangel Cathedral was built in 1505-08 at the culmination of a construction campaign launched by Ivan III (the Great) in the 1470s and completed by his son Grand Prince Vasily (Basil) III, who ruled from 1505 to 1533. The cathedral replaced an earlier church of that name built in 1333 during the reign of Grand Prince Ivan Kalita. Its site was especially prominent on the southern flank of Cathedral Square, overlooking the Moscow River. The architect of the new Archangel Cathedral was identified in Russian chronicles as Aleviz Novyi, or Aleviz ‘the New’, to distinguish him from the ‘Elder’ Aleviz, who built the northwest Moscow Kremlin walls. His identity has recently been established (tentatively) as Alvise Lamberti da Montagnana, a student of Mauro Codussi in Venice. There are clear similarities between the architecture of late 15-century monuments in the Venetian area and the work of Aleviz in Moscow.
