The Greater Church of Christ's Ascension at Nikitskie Vorota

The church became part of world history after the wedding of Alexander Pushkin and Natalya Goncharova. But that isn't the only love story connected to these places. Nearby stood the palace of Natalya Naryshkina, the second wife of Tsar Alexis I and the mother of Peter the Great. On her orders, a stone church—the Church of the Ascension—was built on the site of a previous wooden one. Widowed after his first marriage, Alexis I decided to get married again. Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina was among those summoned to the bride-show. It is believed that the tsar planned to marry her from the start and that the bride-show was only held in order to abide by custom.