According to the Orthodox canons, the Feodorovsky Cathedral has the altar on the East, yet the main entrance is not placed on the opposite West side, but rather on the Northern side facing Mirgorodskaya street. That was the reason for the Northern facade to become the front entrance. It depicts the main decoration of the exterior of the church – an eight meter majolica panel “Intercession of the Mother of God over the Reigning House”.
The panel was completely lost in the Soviet years and later on recreated during the restoration.
The restored majolica panel
At the top of the majolica there is the Feodorovskaya icon of the Mother of God and praying in front of it Great Martyr Fyodor Stratilat and Reverend Ipaty Kostromskoy. The icon crowns a symbolic tree with branches containing Russian Hierarchs, the Orthodox princes and saints. At the bottom, above the walls of the Kostroma Ipatiev’s monastery, there are the figures of Patriarch Filaret and his son Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.
The majolica theme is continued in many square colored tiles placed on the white stoned Northern and Western facades. All of them were restored from scratch during the restoration period.