Rebuilt Cathedral
The 13th century church was rebuilt a few times over the centuries when it was destroyed by fire. After the 1917 revolution, and particularly in Stalin's time (1924-1953), religion was suppressed and this church was demolished with explosives in 1934. The town celebrated its millennium seven years ago and a rich businessmen donated €70 million to rebuild the church, virtually from the ground up. Now they use titanium nitrate for the golden domes as it's cheaper and more durable than gold leaf. The city's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in the foreground. In good weather schoolchildren vie for the honour of "guarding" the tomb for 30 minutes at a time. Many more girls than boys, apparently.
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Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynas... ... read more 
