Cathedral of Saint Demetrius

Interesting facts

A relief on the south front shows Alexander the Great rising to heaven, holding lion cubs as bait for the griffins that carry him upward.

So densely carved are its walls that the cathedral has been nicknamed the 'white-stone book'.

According to the chronicle, Vsevolod brought a plank from Saint Demetrius's tomb in Thessaloniki, said to seep healing myrrh without end.

Vsevolod's own baptismal name was Dmitry, which is why he dedicated his court church to Demetrius of Thessaloniki.

Vsevolod's mother was a Byzantine princess, and he spent several years of his childhood in Constantinople.

The cathedral was damaged and plundered by the Mongols in 1237 and later suffered fires in 1536, 1719 and 1760.

Oak beams about 20 centimetres thick are built into the limestone walls as ties, while the vaults use lighter porous stone to reduce weight.

After the supporting galleries were removed in the 1830s, cracks spread through the walls, and in 1903 the iron ring at the base of the drum burst.

Inside lies the tomb of Count Roman Vorontsov, the first governor-general of Vladimir.

Closed to worship in 1919, the cathedral hosted its first liturgy in many decades in 2011, while remaining part of the museum.

Why it is worth it

The cathedral of Saint Demetrius was built not for a city but for a prince. Grand Prince Vsevolod III of Vladimir, called "Big Nest" for his many children, raised it at his court in the 1190s and dedicated it to Demetrius of Thessaloniki, his own patron saint; it was completed in 1197, when an icon of the saint and a relic of his blood-stained shirt were brought in. It was the palace church of the royal family, which explains its modest size, about 19 metres long, and why galleries once connected it to the vanished palace. It is one of the White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal on the UNESCO list.

It looks at first like other white-stone churches of the region, a single-domed cube on four piers with three bays to a side. What makes it unique is the carving. Around 600 reliefs cover the upper half of the walls and the drum, a dense crowd of saints, lions, griffins, birds, plants and patterns. King David presides in the central arch of the west front, among angels and fantastic beasts, and again on the south front among warrior saints; Solomon, Hercules and Alexander the Great also appear, and on the north side Vsevolod himself is shown with his sons. Scholars have traced influences from Byzantium, the Balkans, Armenia and Romanesque Europe, a mix that says much about how connected twelfth-century Vladimir was.

Not everything is original. In 1837–1839 a restoration ordered by Nicholas I removed the galleries and stair towers as supposed later additions, which weakened the walls, and some carved blocks were replaced with close copies. Inside, a fragment of a twelfth-century Last Judgement fresco survives near the west entrance, painted by artists of Byzantine training. The cathedral belongs to the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and is used as a museum.

Getting there

The cathedral stands in the historic centre of Vladimir. The nearest airport is Ivanovo (IWA), about 96 km away; most travellers come from Moscow, where Lastochka trains from Kursky station reach Vladimir in about two hours.

From the encyclopaedia

The Cathedral of Saint Demetrius is a cathedral in the ancient Russian city of Vladimir. It was finished in 1197 during the reign of the Grand Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest of Vladimir-Suzdal to the honour of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki. Being an important component of the White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal, the cathedral is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Currently, the cathedral is a part of the Vladimir-Suzdal open-air museum.

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Cathedral of Saint Demetrius

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

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From the encyclopaedia