The complex of the Annunciation Cathedral appeared in the Gorokhovets posad in the early 17th century. The records of 1646 already mentioned the Annunciation Cathedral, it was wooden and hipped back then. In 1700, a stone cathedral with five domes was erected in its place.
The money for its construction was provided by the merchant Semyon Nikiforovich Yershov, who made his fortune on selling wine. He was the owner of malt houses, mills, and distilleries. With his help, three stone churches were built in Gorokhovets. Two of his houses, including three-story chambers, have been preserved in this town of Vladimir Oblast.
In 1710, another local merchant Ivan Avdeyevich Shiryayev presented the cathedral with a silver reliquary in the form of a church and a silver goblet in the form of a cluster of grapes. He donated money to build a small winter church of John the Baptist.
The unique doors from the west side of the cathedral are currently housed in the Gorokhovets History and Architecture Museum. Their forged wings were lined with painted red and blue mica over birch bark, and on top they were covered with openwork ornaments made of perforated metal, resembling a cobweb. These doors served as a prototype for the front entrance doors of the State Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow.
At the same time as the cathedral, a separate hipped 37-meter-high bell tower was built. The bell tower has an unusually low quadrangle. This building feature is found exclusively in Gorokhovets. The cathedral bell tower is in the center of the square and holds the town clock chimes.
A chapel was erected to the southeast of the cathedral. This is the latest building of the ensemble. It was built in 1887 using donations from residents in memory of the murdered Emperor Alexander II, also known as Alexander the Liberator, who visited Gorokhovets in 1837.
In 2018, the foundation of the bell tower needed strengthening, and during the restoration, a pit was discovered on the north side that contained fragments of bells. The pit was filled up in the 20th century. The fragments presumably ended up there during the closing of the Annunciation Cathedral and the removal of the bells from the bell tower between 1934 and 1936.
The money for its construction was provided by the merchant Semyon Nikiforovich Yershov, who made his fortune on selling wine. He was the owner of malt houses, mills, and distilleries. With his help, three stone churches were built in Gorokhovets. Two of his houses, including three-story chambers, have been preserved in this town of Vladimir Oblast.
In 1710, another local merchant Ivan Avdeyevich Shiryayev presented the cathedral with a silver reliquary in the form of a church and a silver goblet in the form of a cluster of grapes. He donated money to build a small winter church of John the Baptist.
The unique doors from the west side of the cathedral are currently housed in the Gorokhovets History and Architecture Museum. Their forged wings were lined with painted red and blue mica over birch bark, and on top they were covered with openwork ornaments made of perforated metal, resembling a cobweb. These doors served as a prototype for the front entrance doors of the State Historical Museum on Red Square in Moscow.
At the same time as the cathedral, a separate hipped 37-meter-high bell tower was built. The bell tower has an unusually low quadrangle. This building feature is found exclusively in Gorokhovets. The cathedral bell tower is in the center of the square and holds the town clock chimes.
A chapel was erected to the southeast of the cathedral. This is the latest building of the ensemble. It was built in 1887 using donations from residents in memory of the murdered Emperor Alexander II, also known as Alexander the Liberator, who visited Gorokhovets in 1837.
In 2018, the foundation of the bell tower needed strengthening, and during the restoration, a pit was discovered on the north side that contained fragments of bells. The pit was filled up in the 20th century. The fragments presumably ended up there during the closing of the Annunciation Cathedral and the removal of the bells from the bell tower between 1934 and 1936.
