This church was erected by Grand Duke Ivan Kalita, and was one of the first to be built in Moscow out of stone, rather than wood.

During Grand Duke Ivan III’s major renovation of the Kremlin, he hired an Italian architect to replace this church.

There's a popular yet disputable legend, that when Napoleon captured Moscow in 1812 after the Battle of Borodino, he heard that the cross on the central dome of the Annunciation Cathedral had been cast in solid gold, and immediately gave orders that it should be taken down.

But he confused the cathedral with the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, which only had a gilded iron cross.

This cross resisted all attempts of French equipment and engineers to remove it from the tower.