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→History
In 1555, a team of workers, led by master Postnik Yakovlev and mason Ivan Shiryai from [[Pskov]], were directed to Kazan by an imperial letter and tasked to build walls of stone around the fortress. In addition to the walls, the builders erected a stone cathedral, built out of rough-hewn limestone, in place of the wooden church. The new cathedral was [[consecration of a church|consecrated]] on [[August 15]], 1562. The cathedral had two side [[altar]]s, on the right dedicated to the [[martyr]]ed saints [[Boris and Gleb]], and on the left dedicated to the Murom [[wonderworker|miracleworkers]], Peter and Fevroniya<ref name="tatar"/>. Over the years the cathedral received many gifts: [[icon]]s with gilded silver frames from the tsars and clerical robes, books, and [[liturgical vessel]]s from Kazan archbishops, local generals, and princes.
Through the centuries the cathedral was ravaged many times by fires. The worst events were in 1596, 1672, 1694, 1742, 1749, and 1757. The repairs and additions made after each fire changed the cathedral significantly; side altars were extended, church porches were added, and cupolas were altered. The most destructive fire was that of 1815. In this fire, that burned down a good part of the city, the cathedral was largely destroyed. Extensive changes were made during its restoration that greatly changed the exterior of the cathedral. Also, a new [[iconostasis]] was incorporated that followed the design of the original iconostasis of the early years of the stone cathedral<ref name="tatar"/>.
Many [[hierarch]]s and [[priest]]s associated with the cathedral were buried in the cathedral. Among these were Archbishop Tikhon I (Khvorostinin) (1575-1576) and Metropolitans Lavrenti II (1657-1673) and Markell (1691-1698) who were buried under the heavy vaults of the basement. The bodies of Archbishops Kazansky Afanasi (1857-1866), Vladimir II (Petrov) (1892-1897), and Dmitri Sambikin (1905-1908) were buried in the All Saints church tomb. This tomb was consecrated in 1896 by Archbishop Kazansky Vladimir. Other [[archpriest]]s were buried in various places in the cathedral.
