PRIVATE CHURCH OF METROPOLITANS AND PATRIARCHS

The first Church of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe existed till the mid-1470s; it burned together with the whole metropolitan court during the great fire. Construction of a new church in the same place started under Metropolitan Gerontius in 1484 and completed a year later by Pskov masters, invited to Moscow to clarify the causes of the Assumption Cathedral's destruction. The church was erected during the colossal construction period in the Kremlin, caused by the increased significance of the Russian state, which had just thrown off the centuries-long Tatar yoke.

For more than a century and a half, the church remained the private church of Moscow hierarchs. The ordination ceremony was completed by the solemn exit of the metropolitans out of the anteroom (porch, gallery). After the patriarchate's establishment in 1589, the first Patriarch of Moscow, Job, continued the tradition, and the church became patriarchal.

Like other architectural monuments of the Kremlin, the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe repeatedly suffered from fires and underwent reconstructions. During the Polish invasion in 1605-1612, the Kremlin and the patriarch's court were so devastated that Patriarch Filaret moved to his chambers only in 1624. Two years later, he arranged a special side-chapel in the church altar in honour of the Great Martyr George, most likely in memory of the victory over the Polish-Swedish invaders in 1612. During the fire of 1626, the adornment of the church was also much damaged, which required total restoration of the wall paintings and the iconostasis, which was performed in 1627 by order of Patriarch Philaret. In 1644, under Patriarch Joseph, the walls of the church were painted with new murals, and a covered gallery was added to the north and west sides of the church.