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The Vladimir chronicler left us no precise contempo­rary account of the building of the Cathedral of St. Dmitri. The first reference to the Cathedral is in the obituary of its founder, Vsevolod III, where it is written that he erected a "fine church" in his palace dedicated to the martyr St. Demetrius of Salonica and adorned it with wonderful icons and frescoes. There is sufficient evidence, however, to assume that the cathedral was founded somewhere between 1194-1197. Its subsequent his­tory is quite clear. In memory of his illustrious forbear, Dmitri Donskoi took the cathedral under his patro­nage. There are grounds for assuming that the buildings of the palace were still standing in the fifteenth and six­teenth centuries. The cathedral was damaged by fire several times in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. Finally, as a result of the notorious attempt at restoration in 1837-1839, when Nicholas I ordered the cathedral to be restored to its "original appearance" it was stripped of its most interesting features, the staircase towers and galleries.

The cathedral was restored in 1952 by Alexander Stoletov. It belongs to the type of comparatively small church with four pillars and a single dome which was very popular in the twelfth century and was built in feudal palaces and town parishes. It also stands out as the royal church of the strongest feudal ruler in twelfth-century Russia, built by the "great Vsevolod" as the chroniclers call him, at the height of his glory, when the power of the Grand Duke of Vladimir decided the fate of the principalities along the Dnieper, Smolensk and Novgorod. The idea of the Grand Duke's omnipotence is splendidly embodied in the Cathedral of St. Dmitri.

 The whole building right down to the minutest detail is infused with a spirit of solemn majesty. The propor­tions are bold and impressive and there are three power­ful semi-circular apses. The building is divided into three distinct horizontal tiers. The lower tier is almost completely devoid of decoration, its smooth surface being broken only by the deep shadow of the recessed portal. The middle tier, which begins above the band of blind arcading and is somewhat narrower than the lower tier, is richly covered with decoration. The walls are divided vertically into three broad sections by severe pilasters full of restrained strength. Instead of straining out of the walls they seem to blend in with the symmetrical, sideways movement of the zakomara arches. The upper section of the walls contains long, narrow windows with richly moulded embrasures, leav­ing large expanses for the multiplicity of carving which occupies the whole of the upper section above the band of blind arcading, as well as the drum of the dome.

The carvings are arranged evenly in horizontal lines and as you look at them you become aware of the mul­tiple lines of the masonry. The semi-columns of the blind arcading, rather than rising up to support the arches, seem to hang down like heavy plaited cords with the massive brackets of the carved consoles. Even from a short distance the large amount of carving on the band makes it look like a broad horizontal rib­bon running round the body of the cathedral.

All this enhances the massiveness, power and quiet splendour of the building, which is crowned by a huge dome on a square base. The dome forms the third tier, which is shorter than the upper section of the walls. This gradual reduction in height gives the impression that the three tiers of the building are moving slowly up­wards, and enhances the bold, yet slender lines. Here, too, the light movement of the slender small columns next to the windows is subdued by the broad horizontal band of the cornice, while the medallions of twined carv­ing on the areas between the windows seem to unite the over-all pattern of movement on the drum. The whole building is rounded off quietly by the gently curving form of the helmet-shaped golden dome, which is topped by a large old open-work cross made of gilded copper with a weather vane in the form of a copper dove.

Careful measurement of the cathedral by the architect Valentina Kazarinova has revealed some of the subtle devices employed in its construction. It has been dis­covered that the shape and size of the main features of the building are closely linked with the function of the particular section which they happen to be in. For example, the proportions and projection of the semi-columns and their bases gradually increase the lower down they appear. The semi-columns at the top of the building on the drum are narrower and do not project very far, whereas the ones by the portals in the lower part of the walls which bears a heavier load, are larger and project more sharply. This link between structural function and decoration is also evident in the design of the arches, the main architectural motif. Those of the portals, for example, are broad and solid. The purely decorative arches of the band of blind arcading, which stand at the point where the load of the upper walls is transferred to the lower part of the building, are tensely sprung and horseshoe-shaped. On the other hand, the zakomara arches are elliptic in form with a large verti­cal axis, because a conventional curve would appear flat when viewed from below. The architects displayed amazing skill in varying the decoration in accordance with structural requirements and lighting. The main west por­tal, for example, is decorated much more lavishly than the two side ones. The moulding and carving on the por­tals varies on each of the facades: the brightly lit south portal is decorated mainly with a flat intertwining pattern, whereas the north portal, on the side where there is most shadow, has a strong, contrasting relief, its archivolt being covered with rich, deep moulding de­signed to catch the gentle rays of the setting sun. The architect has moulded each shape individually like a sculptor, boldly ignoring strict geometrical symmetry, and producing a remarkable liveliness and organic unity of form which is the sign of true genius.

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