In the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin lies the necropolis of Russian rulers – from Grand Duke Ivan Kalita to Emperor Peter II. Nearby is the world’s only female necropolis, where the remains of princesses and tsarinas of the Rurik and Romanov dynasties rest! Until 1929, it was located in the Ascension Monastery of the Kremlin. The monastery, founded in 1386 by Evdokia Dmitrievna, the wife of Dmitry Donskoy, stood next to the Spassky Gate and was dedicated to the Battle of Kulikovo. Here, the widows of rulers spent their last years, and princely and tsarist brides awaited their weddings. For example, Marina Mnishek lived here before her wedding to False Dmitry I. For three hundred years, the monastery was the resting place for the wives, daughters, and mothers of Russian rulers. Here are buried: • the wife of Grand Duke Vasily I, Sophia Vitovtovna; • the wife of Ivan III, Sophia Paleologue; • the mother of Ivan the Terrible, Elena Glinskaya; • his wives: Anastasia Romanovna, Maria Temryukovna, Martha Sobakina, and Maria Nagaya; • the chosen one of Tsar Feodor Ivanovich, Irina Godunova; • the mother of Peter I, Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. The last burial in the Ascension Monastery took place in 1731. It belongs to the daughter of Ivan V and niece of Peter the Great, Praskovya. In total, there were more than sixty burials in the monastery. In 1917, artillery shells damaged the domes and walls of the monastery churches, and its inhabitants were soon expelled. In 1929, the monastery was blown up. The young Soviet power was clearing the site for a military school, getting rid of “relics of the past.” The sarcophagi of Russian rulers’ wives were miraculously saved: they were moved to the Archangel Cathedral, where they remain to this day.