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William C. Brumfield


3. Savior Prilutski Monastery.
Cathedral of the Savior Interior,
view east
3. Wołogda, sobór monasteru
Spaso-Priłuckiego, 1537-1542.
Wnętrze ku wsch.

The increasing power of Moscow in the late 15th and 16th centuries was reflected in the
construction of large churches resembling the main cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin,
and Yologda would benefit from this process during the reign of Ivan IV (the Terrible). Like
all northem towns of the medieval era, Vologda consisted almost entirely of log structures.
Significant masonry work did not appear until 1565, when Ivan included the town in his
pnvate domain (pprichnina) and initiated construction of a fortress, or kremlin, apparently
to serve as his northem residence. After the onset of a plague epidemie in 1571, Ivan left
Vologda for Moscow. At this point, the enterprise was abandoned and the walls were
eventually dismantled.
Nonetheless, the most important monument of the Vologda citadel remained: the Cathedral
of Saint Sophia (ill. 4). Built in 1568-70, the Sophia Cathedral was intended to serve as
the seat of a bishopric after the expansion of the territory of the Yologda eparchy in 1571.4
Indeed, the unusual dedication of the building, to Saint Sophia (morę precisely, to Divine
Wisdom), can be interpreted as a direct challenge to the great 1 Ith-century Sophia Cathedral
in Novgorod, now completely subjugated to Moscow after a confrontation that had lasted
over two centuries. Because of various political and ecclesiastical complications, however,
the Yologda cathedral was not consecrated until 1588, following the death of Ivan
the Terrible.

4 An analysis of the history and architecture of the Yologda St. Sophia Cathedral is contained in BOCHAROY, VYGOLOV,
Yologda, op. cit. pp. 26-38; and G. K. LUKOMSKY, Yologda v ee starine, St. Petersburg: Sirius, 1914, pp. 59-72.