Yuri did not urge Andrei to return to Vyshgorod, nor did he insist upon his restoring the holy painting. Andrei could not have done so, in any case, for all people believed that the Mother of God had selected Vladimir as the home of her image. After Yuri’s death his territory was divided, and Mystislav assumed the title of Grand Prince of Kief, though in reality there ceased to be any Grand Principality of Kief. Born in the north, the city of Vladimir was dear to Andrei. Only through necessity did he go from it to serve in the various wars waged by his father. From youth, Andrei was famous as a warrior, and was the chief and right hand of Yuri. Prompt, energetic and resolute, he loved to be in the front rank of every battle, and on a mighty horse to tear through the heart of the enemy. He was greatly distinguished in war, excelling in management, in the knowledge of details, and in the power of going at once to the very root of a question. No matter what he undertook, he always proved himself a master. In 1169 Andrei, becoming greatly dissatisfied with Mystislav’s management in Kief, formed a coalition of eleven princes, and marched with a large force against him. After three days Kief was taken by assault; during three more days the place was pillaged, the victors, in the frenzy of triumph, forgetting that they were Russians and that Kief was a Russian city. Everything of value, including the contents of churches, was carried away. Through continual civil wars, and the increased power of wandering hordes, a condition of any permanency had become impossible, and the interest which Yuri took in Kief was not shared by Andrei. Yuri had founded Suzdal, but, notwithstanding that fact, he had spent most of his life in an effort to become Grand Prince of Kief. Upon the decline of Kief, Suzdal, in the basin of the Volga, became the chief city, but loving neither Suzdal nor Rostoff, Andrei determined to make Vladimir the capital of Russia. The majesty of buildings had always attracted him, and he now invited from every part of Russia, not only skilled workers in stone and in wood, but clever craftsmen of all kinds. In Bogolyuboff he established many artificers; a whole ward was occupied by masters in silver and gold work, and makers of holy images. He brought in not only Russian artists, but artists from other lands, from Tsargrad and Italy. The chroniclers of those days were astonished at the great number of these persons.