Fodor's Expert Review Cathedral of the Christ's Ascension in Storozhakh near Nikitsky Gate

Like Moscow State University, this classical church was designed by Matvei Kazakov and built in the 1820s. The church is most famous as the site where the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin married the younger Natalya Goncharova; Pushkin died six years later, in a duel defending her honor. There is a kitschy and much despised statue of the couple on the square outside the church. (History has judged Natalya harshly; she was probably not guilty of adultery, although she did enjoy flirting.) The statue in the park to the left of the church as you face it is of Alexey Tolstoy, a relative of Leo's and a well-known Soviet writer of historical novels. The church stood empty and abandoned for many years, but after major repairs, religious services have resumed.