_The Thrones_ or stalls of the Tsar and Tsaritsa are situated, the first between the south column and the south wall, the second just before the north column; the large stall in front of the south column is for the Patriarch, and dates from the days of Philaret only. The canopy in the south-western corner is for the "Holy Coat" sent by the Shah Abbas, but this is usually kept in the altar of the north chapel. It is pretty generally known that the Uspenski Sobor is the State Cathedral; that in it the Tsars of Russia must be crowned; there, too, several have been married, foreign princes have renounced their faith and accepted the orthodox religion prior to marriage with the Royal princesses, and there Peter the Great caused his son Alexis to repudiate his right to succeed to the throne: actually it is the mausoleum of the Patriarchs and heads of the Orthodox Church. There is nothing in its architecture that demands comment, the external mural pictures are common place, and from the artistic standpoint the work that merits closest attention and highest praise is the open scroll, bent and hammered metal on the lattices of the different shrines, and almost equally good is much of the chiselled, moulded and other decorative metal work on the ikonostas. It is a typical church, richer in precious metal, sacred ikons and holy relics than other churches in Moscow; it is the pious wish of the guardians of the other churches to make theirs even as is this. ARCHANGELSKI SOBOR