Vasili Dmitriyevich Yermolin () (? – died between 1481 and 1485) was a Russian architect and sculptor. Vasili Yermolin is known to have been a merchant, contractor, and head of an

artel An artel () was any of several types of cooperative associations of workers in pre-revolutionary Russia. In the Soviet Union, the term was applied to enterprises in the Soviet Union, production cooperatives. They began centuries ago but were espe ...

of the

Muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula KAl2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage y ...

builders. In 1462, he restored the old parts of the whitestone walls of the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

from the Sviblov Tower (known as the Vodovzvodnaya Tower today) to the Borovitskiye Gates. Also, Vasili Yermolin rebuilt the Frolovskiye Gates (today's Spasskiye Gates) in 1462-1464 and decorated them with

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s depicting

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

and St. Demetrius, protectors of the

princes. A fragment of the St. George relief is now on display in the

State Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

. The second relief was lost. Judging by the looks of the surviving fragment, both of them represented the finest examples of the old Russian sculpture. During the reconstruction of the Spasskaya Tower by an Italian architect

Pietro Antonio Solari Pietro Antonio Solari (;Z. Davidov. Stars on the towers. (Звезды на башнях) Moscow, 1963 – May 1493), also known as Pyotr Fryazin (), was an Italian Renaissance architect and sculptor, who worked in Moscow. Biography He was b ...

, these reliefs were affixed onto it and remained there until they redesigned its top in 1624–1625. Vasili Yermolin restored a church of the Ascension Monastery (Вознесенский монастырь) in the Kremlin between 1467 and 1469. In 1469, he built a

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

for the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius () is a lavra and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about to the northeast from Mosco ...

which did not survive and renovated the church on top of the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...

Vladimir Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

. In 1471, Yermolin was sent to rebuild the ancient Cathedral of St. George in Yuriev-Polsky, which had just collapsed. In 1472, he took part in preparations for the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin. At the request of Yermolin, they compiled the so-called ''

Yermolin Chronicle Yermolin Chronicle (also spelled ''Ermolin Chronicle'') is a fifteenth-century Russian chronicle compiled in Moscow and named for the master builder Vasili Dmitrievich Yermolin, whose workshop is credited with initiating the text. It survives in a ...

'', which contained information on different aspects of architecture and construction. There is speculation that some of the text was written by Yermolin himself.

References

Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain Yermolin 15th-century architects 15th-century sculptors Russian sculptors Russian male sculptors {{Russia-sculptor-stub