The great princes of Vladimir and Moscow were placed under the protection of St. Michael. The cathedral, a royal necropolis built between 1505 and 1508, thus bears the name of the archangel. From Ivan Kalita buried here in 1340 to Ivan V, who died in 1696, an entire dynasty lies under the building's five domes among magnificent murals from the mid-17C. The exterior décor in white stone, designed by Venetian master Alevisio the Younger, evokes Renaissance architecture from his birthplace.