About fifty yards north of the bell-tower one can see the remains of the stone fortifications round the Vladimir citadel, built by Vsevolod III and Bishop John in 1194-1196 to separate their residences from the rest of the town. These remains were discovered during excavation work carried out in 1936-1937. The gates were a smaller, less elaborate version of the Golden Gates. In their thick west wall there was a staircase leading to the upper defensive platform in the centre of which stood the tiny episcopal Church of St. Joachim and St. Anne. There is evidence that this was no less beautiful than the town's cathedrals; excavations have revealed remains of a band of blind arcading and a carved portal, green majolica tiles from the floor of the defensive platform, and other small, carefully shaped, coloured majolica tiles from the mosaics on the floor of the church. Its vaulted ceiling may well have been supported by light, round columns, waste fragments of which were used in the masonry of the citadel walls. These walls, which were made of white stone and slabs of porous tufa, joined the earth ramparts of the Middle Town on the west, and stretched as far as the Cathedral of St. Dmitri on the east.