Smolensk Assumption Cathedral

The cathedral stands on the hill that has held Smolensk's main church since the twelfth century; the medieval building was destroyed in 1611 during the Polish siege, when the defenders blew up the powder store beneath it, and the present cathedral was built between 1677 and 1740 in a slow campaign with the dome collapsing once along the way. It is painted green and white with five domes, huge for a provincial city, and visible from most of the town and across the Dnieper. The interior is the reason to go in: a carved wooden iconostasis around thirty metres high, gilded, from the 1730s, one of the largest in the country, filling the east end from floor to vault. The cathedral stayed open through much of the Soviet period and survived the German occupation, which is why the fittings are intact when so many elsewhere are not.

What you actually see

• The iconostasis - a gilded carved screen about thirty metres high, from the 1730s.
• The green and white exterior - a five-domed baroque cathedral above the Dnieper.
• The 1611 destruction - the site where defenders blew up the powder store under the old church.
• The intact fittings - furnishings that survived both the Soviet period and the occupation.

When to go

May to September. One to two hours. It is a working cathedral, so services govern access.

Honest expectations

An active church with dress rules; photography inside is prohibited or charged. Services close the nave to visitors. The climb up cathedral hill is steep. The surrounding city is worn and rebuilding from wartime destruction is visible everywhere.

Nearby

The Smolensk fortress wall runs through the city; the Dnieper is below the hill.