Several centuries ago, the Renaissance changed the face of Moscow forever.

Having built up a prestigious and powerful state, Prince Ivan III decided to decorate his city with new buildings to reflect its grandeur. He wanted the most beautiful buildings, the latest designs and the most cutting-edge technology. So the prince sent his servants to Italy to hire the best architects of the Renaissance era to design buildings for the Kremlin complex in the center of Moscow.

The Kremlin’s Dormition Cathedral was built by Bolognese architect Aristotel Fioravanti. Some researchers believe he was chosen by Princess Zoe Sophia Palaiologina, the second wife of Ivan III. She was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor and she had lived in Italy before marrying Ivan.

Italian architect Aristotel Fiorovanti refused to reconstruct the dilapidated cathedral. Instead, he opened a brick factory and used the new materials for a new building. The Orthodox demands of the client were skillfully combined with the latest Renaissance innovations and in just four years a masterpiece was born.

Most of the Kremlin walls and towers were built by Pietro Antonio Solari and Marco Ruffo from Milan. Solari and Ruffo constructed the Palace of Facets – a small part of the grand palace that has not been preserved. Both architects are known in history under the common last name ‘Fryazin’, which is how the Moscovites called those who came from Italy.

Ivan III would never see this masterpiece of the Venetian school: the Cathedral of the Archangel. Its creator, Aloisio de Montagnano, came to Russia a year before the death of the ruler.

But the work of Italian architects in Moscow extends beyond the Kremlin. The first so-called ‘tent-roof’ stone church in Russia was constructed in the summer residence of the Russian rulers, at Kolomenskoe, which is now part of Moscow. Little is known about its creator, Pietro Annibale, who, like many other Italian architects, never left Russia…

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/25/the-italians-who-revamped-russia

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