My First Time on the Pictures

I bought an awesome tripod in New York, and I first used this past weekend when I went to the country estate of the czars: Kolomenskoe.

Unfortunately, the most impressive building in Kolomenskoe was under renovation. The Church of the Ascension was built by Vasily III in 1532 (probably) to celebrate the birth of his son Ivan, who would later become Ivan the Terrible. The church is pretty important in Russian architecture, because it reproduced the shape of wooden churches in brick for the first timeroof and its tent-shaped roof was one of the first in Russia to be built from stone. According to LP, it paved the way for St Basil's cathedral 25 years later. Here's a pic of me by it, and also picture a pulled from the Internet showing how it looks like when it's not under renovation.

These are the Bell Tower (only piece left from 16th-Century Church of St George) and some other buildings.

This is the Front Gate, which was once part of a huge wooden palace built by Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich, described by some as the eighth wonder of world. The palace was demolished by Chatherine the Great in 1768, but inside the tower there is a museum displaying a model of the palace and some other cool stuff. The eagle on top of the tower is a symbol of the Romanov dinasty. Here's a pic:

In Soviet times, Kolomenskoe became a museum of architecture. During that time, the commies brought this wooden cabin from Archangelsk, where Peter the Great lived in 1702 while he was supervising ship and fort building in that city.

Here's a pic of me by the church of Our Lady of Kazan, an early example of Moscow Baroque. It was also built by Tsar Alexis, in 1650.