Cathedral of Saint Demetrius, Vladimir

This compact twelfth-century church in Vladimir is celebrated above all for the extraordinary carved reliefs that cover its upper walls, among the finest stone sculpture of medieval Rus. Built as the palace church of a powerful prince, its white limestone surfaces teem with more than a thousand figures of saints, kings, beasts and plants in a program blending Christian and folk imagery. The single-domed cube is a masterwork of the region's architectural school and forms part of the protected White Monuments.