Andrei spared neither treasure nor labor in ornamenting Vladimir. Remembering his ancestor, who had adorned Kief with the Golden Gate and the Tithe Church, he determined that his birthplace should equal Kief, the mother of Russian cities, hence he built the Assumption Cathedral, which was esteemed at that time a marvel, and during centuries it served in the North as a model for similar structures. The Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, once the place for crowning the Tsars of Russia, and where the Emperors are now crowned, was built on this model. He erected the Golden, as well as the Silver Gate, called thus because the church dome at one gate was of gold, while at the other it was of silver. The city of Vladimir, adorned with beautiful buildings, and exalted by the presence of the marvelous image, became Andrei’s residence, and, because of the image and the residence, also the capital city. In spite of the opposition of boyars in Rostoff and Suzdal, the Assumption Cathedral of Vladimir became the main sanctuary of the Russian land, and gave primacy to the city. The North was no longer the land of Rostoff and Suzdal, it was mentioned more and more frequently as Vladimir. This Vladimir country included what are known now as the governments of Vladimir, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Ryazan, Tuer, Nizni-Novgorod, Bailozero, in other words what is really Great Russia. From time immemorial, in Russia the only place held in high honor was a place with a sanctuary. The people revered Kief, because the Christian faith had first been accepted there. In Kief there were relics and holy places and there also was the monastery in which the great monks Antonio and Fedosia had lived. Till Andrei’s day, the immense northern land beyond the forest contained nothing sacred. Now two images, one made by Luke the Evangelist, and known as the Vladimir Mother of God, the other that of the Holy Virgin as she made herself manifest to Andrei in a vision, made Vladimir the first sanctuary in Russia. Popular belief assigned the founding of the city to St. Vladimir the Apostle and Grand Prince. He had, in fact, come from Kief with the first metropolitan to baptize the pagan people of that region, but the city was founded only during the days when Vladimir Monomach was the ruler. It occupied, however, the spot on which the Apostolic Vladimir had camped, on his way to baptize the people of Rostoff and Suzdal, hence it was said that the city received its name from Vladimir the Apostle, the Purifier. Political power helped the religious idea, and religion gave strength to the policy.