This
small but charming [Russian Orthodox] Cathedral was built in the 17th
century on the north side of the square near the Resurrection Gate. It
was built to commemorate the repulsion of Polish invaders, and in honor
of the Virgin of Kazan icon.
The building is a cube topped with a cluster of domes and encircled by
a gallery. In the north-west corner there is a bell-tower, and in the
north-east the chapel of Averkiy Ierapolskiy. The Cathedral was
restored between 1925 and 1933 by the great architect-restorer Pyotr
Baranovsky. However, this did not stop the Soviet authorities from
taking the decision in 1936 to have the Cathedral demolished.
Fortunately, thanks to Baranovsky, blueprints of the building survived,
and in 1989 one of his former students, Oleg Zhurin, took charge of the
project to rebuild the Cathedral. This was the first church to be
rebuilt in post-communist Moscow.