SHRINE OF METROPOLITAN PETER

Metropolitan Peter launched the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in 1326 and was buried at the unfinished building the same year. Since that time the Cathedral has become a burial place of Russian Holy Hierarchs - metropolitans and patriarchs. The shrine of the Metropolitan was devastated during the invasion of Tokhtamysh Khan Horde who expected to find treasures there. Thereafter the relics of the Saint were put in a wooden shrine and in 1538 it was encased with a silver cover with a gilt embossed image of Metropolitan Peter. That shrine was looted by the Polish invaders in 1612, but the newly made silver shrine was destroyed by the French army in 1812. Today’s silver shrine with a luxurious bronze canopy was created in 1819.