The main place in the structure and decoration of Russian Orthodox churches is occupied by the iconostasis, which is a high wall stretching from the altar platform to the vault upwards and from the north side of the cathedral to the south. The iconostasis, set in several tiers of icons, separates the altar from the middle part of the temple.
Initially, the Christian temples did not know the icons, but it was replaced by a simple grid in the case of ancient Christians. Both the ancient Byzantine and Russian temples did not have multilayer iconostases until the 14th century but were satisfied only with altar barriers that did not hide the altar from the eyes of those praying.
Only by the 14th century were the icons of the Orthodox temples on the altar apse, on the sails of the vault and on the middle part of the church moved to the iconostasis. But not all the icons, and not all the icons, but only with the image of certain saints, namely: the apostles, prophets, patriarchs, and forefathers. Later they were placed on the iconostasis together with the image of Deesis (Jesus Christ, the Holy Lady and John the Baptist). The iconostasis of the Orthodox temples does not contain images of saints, even those of the most highly revered in Russia (St. George the Victorious, St. Sergius, etc.), and there are never images of wives of either the Old or the New Testament (except for the foremother Eve and the Holy Lady).
Construction of an iconostasis in a temple of the Christ of the Savior was carried out under the direction of K. Ton. The iconostasis represented an octahedral chapel made of white Carrara (without veins) marble, with ornaments and inlays from other breeds of marble. For example, a labrador and a Shokshin quartzite sandstone were used for the base/plinth and inlaid.
The production of marble works of the iconostasis was taken over by Skvortsov, an honorary citizen of Moscow. The contractor brought the gemstones to the proper appearance, because "he had to sort marble and porphyry by color and direction of the veins in the stones. Under the contract, Skvortsov has undertaken to finish work for three years, as was executed in time, except for polishing as it was impossible to start to it until the bronze gilded tent will be established at the top of a chapel. The tent, which was narrowing upwards, ended in a chapter and across.
Inside the chapel was the throne, as it served simultaneously and the altar-shade, which are usually arranged in the ancient Christian temples. Such a shade had already had a tent finish and was based on four carved columns, which were traditionally called "Solomon's".
Muscovites loved their temple very much, felt protected under its fertile canopy. After the Kremlin, he became the second spiritual center of the city. How many babies were crossed in it, how many weddings were made here! Children played on its steps, and here lovers appointed a date ... The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was the center of Moscow's life and at the same time a symbol of all Orthodox Russia, the spokesman for its power and grandeur. Built-in the national Russian style, he entered every Russian heart and stayed there invariably, and the chapel-iconostasis in its appearance was to remind believers of the cave in which the Savior was buried.
Three sides of the iconostasis-chapel were turned inside the temple. Each facet of the iconostasis was flanked by a richly inlaid faceted column and ended with a small head and across. If to straighten (mentally) all sides of an octagon in one plane, before us the characteristic four-story composition would turn out.
Over the third tier stretched the chapel vault, and the bronze tent - over the fourth. The chapel's shade had deeply arched apertures for local icons, and in general, the entire accent of the decor was made on the central aperture with the Tsarist gate, which in itself already represented a work of foundry art. The Tsar's Gate was located at the front of the chapel, and there were spans of northern and southern doors in special double marble walls adjoining the walls of the temple.
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