The Assumption Cathedral and the Monastery in Sviyazhsk are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, which is holding  the 41st session in Krakow, has included the Assumption Cathedral and the monastery of the island of Sviyazhsk on the World Heritage List.

The delegation of the Russian Federation led by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to UNESCO Alexander Kuznetsov included  Deputy Chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan,  Executive Director of the Republican Foundation "Vozrozhdenie" Tatyana Larionova,  Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan  Svetlana Persova,  head of Zelenodolsk Municipal District and the Mayor of Zelenodolsk Alexander Tygin, Vice-president of the Russian National Committee of ICOMOS, vice-rector for scientific work of the Kazan Institute of Culture Rafael Valeyev, director Museum-reserve "Kazan Kremlin" Zilya Valeyeva, director of the Sviyazhsky Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve Artem Silkin.

For reference: The Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is located in the Sviyazhsky Assumption Monastery. The cathedral was laid in 1556, consecrated in 1560 and painted with frescoes in 1561. Art critics consider it one of the masterpieces of Russian architecture. 

The temple was built in the Pskov-Novgorod style. Prospective architects - Ivan Shirya and Postnik Yakovlev - the famous creators of the St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.

In the XVIII century the Assumption Cathedral received a new dome in the then fashionable style of Ukrainian baroque and 12 patterned baroque kokoshniks. This gave the severe Christian structure a more joyful appearance, but otherwise its appearance of the 16th century remained unchanged.

Of particular value are the frescoes inside the temple. They occupy a total area of ​​1080 square meters. Here a full cycle of the multicolored wall painting of the epoch of Ivan the Terrible has been preserved. Painters  are unknown. The most rare is the face of St. Christopher with a horse's head. Similar images of the holy martyr Christopher, since the middle of the XVIII century, were banned and the Church actively destroyed them. Therefore now it is the only surviving fresco of this kind.

Other images on the ancient walls of the Assumption Cathedral are dedicated to the events of the Old Testament and the Gospel, as well as the vicissitudes of Russian history until the 16th century and folk legends. Sviyazhsky frescoes are an invaluable asset of Russia.