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 (russian: арте́ль) was any of several types of cooperative associations and (later) corporate enterprises in the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Soviet Union. They began centuries ago but were especially prevalent ...

of the

Muscovite Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula K Al2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavag ...

builders. In 1462, he restored the old parts of the whitestone walls of the Moscow Kremlin 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. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s depicting St George 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 (russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, ''Gosudarstvennaya Tretyâkovskaya Galereya''; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered th ...

. 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, 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 Ascension Convent, known as the Starodevichy Convent or Old Maidens' Convent until 1817 (russian: Вознесенский монастырь, ''Voznesensky monastyr''), was an Orthodox nunnery in the Moscow Kremlin which contained the burials of ...

(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 monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...

for the

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (russian: Тро́ице-Се́ргиева ла́вра) is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Pos ...

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 t ...

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

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

References

{{authority control Yermolin