Sobornaya Sq. The Cathedral of the Transfiguration and the eastern pavilion of the Travelling Palace

Photo by I. A. Tachalov, Tver, 1907 (?). Published by R. Ya. Kiikchy. Tver, 1910s. The Collection of RNL.

In the early XX century a square where the main temple of Tver stoo< ! was called Sobornaya. In the first after revolutionary years it was renamed int The Revolution Sq. In the photos of the end of the XIX- the beginning of th-XX centuries one can see the Cathedral of the Transfiguration (1689-1696), the Cathedral's bell-tower (1730s;- the beginning of 1760s) and th; Emperors' Travelling Palace (1760s - 1770s).
Sobornaya Sq. had a history of about 6 centuries before its rename. The first cathedral temple of Tver was probably the wooden Church of SS. Kozm and Damian, about it the chronicles first mention in the beginning of 1270 in connection with the burial of the first Prince of Tver Yaroslav Yaroslavk: there. In 1285 in the place of that temple a stone Cathedral of the Transfiguration was laid. It was sanctified in 1290 and painted two years later It's hard to say who built that first stone building of Tver, but taking into account the consequences of the Mongols-Tatars Invasion and the lack of notes in chronicles between 1234-1285 about the building of stone temples in the northeastern and the northwestern Rus, a participation of Western. Rus craftsmen in creation of Tver Cathedral of the Saviour may be supposed. The middle and the second half of the XIII century were marked with the building of some stone erections in Galitsko-Volynskaya Rus. Tver bishop Simeon was from western Russian lands. The Tver Princes' Family was connected with western principalities due to the relative relations and foreign policies interests. Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod and Tver stonemasons should not be excluded from the row of probable participants in the building of the main temple of Tver. Thus an artel (squad) which built The Saviour, could be consisted of representatives from different Russian lands.