Church of the Ascension is a Russian Orthodox Church located in the national park Kolomenskoye several miles to the south-east of Moscow downtown, Russia. The church was built by Vasily III in 1532 to commemorate the birth of an heir to the throne, the future Ivan the Terrible. It was probably built by an Italian architect Petrok Maly as the first stone church of tent-like variety and formed a basis for future harmonious combination of Russian and Western European architecture. Church of the Ascension was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1994.
The church was constructed in the form of a gigantic pillar without supporting columns or piers rising 62 meters (204 feet) high. It was rebuilt and reconstructed several times but its main characteristics remained unchanged.
Fresco from 1259
Boyana Church is a Bulgarian Orthodox Church located on the outskirts of Sofia, Bulgaria. The church was built within a medieval fortress and dates from the 10th century. Sebastocrator Kaloyan commissioned two-story building next to the original church at the beginning of 13th century, while the frescoes (89 scenes with 240 human images) which represent one of the most important collections of Eastern European medieval art date from 1259. A third church was added at the beginning of the 19th century and thus the present structure consists of three buildings: from the 11th, 13th and 19th centuries.
Besides frescoes from 1259 there are also frescoes from the 14th, 16th-17th and from 19th centuries, while only fragments of the 11th-12th century frescoes remained preserved.
Boyana Church was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1979.
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one most famous Russian Orthodox churches located along the Griboedov Canal in the very heart of St Petersburg. It was built in memory on Tsar Alexander II on the spot were he was assassinated in 1881.
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was constructed between 1883 and 1907 and was almost entirely financed by the Imperial family and private donors. The church's chief architect was Alfred Alexandrovich Parland, while the both interior and exterior of the church were decorated by some of the most celebrated Russian artists: Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel.
The church was closed during the Bolshevik anti-religious campaign in the 1930's and remained closed after the World War II as well. Director of St Isaac's Cathedral and Museum G.P. Butikov managed to persuade the communist authorities to pass the management of the Church to St Isaac's Cathedral and Museum in 1970 but restoration of the Church did not start until 1980. Restoration works were completed by 1997 and Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood was reopened as a museum.
