Kremlin, The Upper Saviour’s Cathedral and Terem Churches

The eastern side of the Terem Palace houses a group of home churches. The earliest one is the St. Catherine Church, a tsarinas’ and tsarevnas’ home church built in 1627 by John Taller on the place of the burnt down wooden one. It stands on the same level with the Golden Tsarina’s Chamber. The two sides of the church were circled with a gallery. The ladder between the Church and the Tsarina’s Chamber led to the Front Stone Yard. In 1654, the Eudokia Church was erected over the Catherine Church. In 1635-1636, the tsars’ home Church of the Vernicle with a John Belogorodsky Chapel was built together with the Terem Palace at the western side of the Front Stone Yard. It was erected by the same masters: B. Ogurtsov (Cucumber), A. Konstantinov, T. Sharutin and L. Ushakov. The quadrangular church was built over the Gold Tsarina’s Chamber. In 1663, the church’s refectory was built over its outer entrance hall, so that the church formed the unique volume with the Chamber. The Front Stone Yard was renamed the Upper Saviour’s Perron.