This Page Last Updated October 24th, 2008 (new style reckoning)
Architectural Meaning
Even at the time of Tsar Ivan IV there was some interest in seeking
Latin builders for Russia. We can get an idea of why, so
soon afterward, the Western Architecture took off. Tsar Ivan is known as Ivan the Terrible due to many reasons. Perhaps one of them is that after his first wife (who was a devout Orthodox Christian) died he married another woman who was not so. This fact contributed to the downfall of Holy Russia. The timing is important to understand. Even an amateur student can
easily learn and see how it is that Russia accepted western influences, even in
architecture. It was particularly Peter the Great, who, in the 18th century
caused such an upset this way that churches in Russia today are found to have so much heretical
design.