Vasili Dmitriyevich Yermolin (? - died between 1481 and 1485) was a Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 and sculptor.

Vasili Yermolin is known to have been a merchant, contractor, and head of an artel

Artel

Artel is a general term for various cooperative associations in Russia and Ukraine, historical and modern.Historically, artels were semi-formal associations for various enterprises: fishing, mining, commerce, of loaders, loggers, thieves, beggars, etc. Often artels worked far from home and lived...

 of the Muscovite

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 builders. In 1462, he restored the old parts of the whitestone walls of the Moscow Kremlin

Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...

 from the Sviblov Tower (known as the Vodovzvodnaya Tower

Kremlin towers

The following is a list of towers of Moscow Kremlin. The Kremlin Wall is a defensive wall that surrounds the Moscow Kremlin, recognizable by the characteristic notches and its towers...

 today) to the Borovitskiye Gates. Also, Vasili Yermolin rebuilt the Frolovskiye Gates (today's Spasskiye Gates) in 1462-1464 and decorated them with polychrome

Polychrome

Polychrome is one of the terms used to describe the use of multiple colors in one entity. It has also been defined as "The practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." Polychromatic light is composed of a number of different wavelengths...

 relief

Relief

Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

s depicting St George and St. Demetrius, protectors of the Muscovite princes. A fragment of the St.George relief is now on display in the State Tretyakov Gallery. The second relief was lost. Judging by the looks of the surviving fragment, both of them represented the finest examples of the old Russian sculpture. During the reconstruction of the Spasskaya Tower by an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 architect Pietro Antonio Solari

Pietro Antonio Solari

Pietro Antonio Solari , also known as Pyotr Fryazin, was a Swiss Italian architect....

, these reliefs were affixed onto it and remained there until they redesigned its top in 1624-1625. Vasili Yermolin restored a church of the Ascension Monastery (Вознесенский монастырь) in the Kremlin between 1467 and 1469. In 1469, he built a refectory

Refectory

A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...

 for the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra

Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is the most important Russian monastery and the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 km to the north-east from Moscow by the road leading to Yaroslavl, and currently is home to...

 which did not survive and renovated the church on top of the Golden Gate

Golden Gate (Vladimir)

The Golden Gates of Vladimir , constructed between 1158 and 1164, are the only preserved instance of the ancient Russian city gates. A museum inside focuses on the history of the Mongol invasion of Russia in the 13th century....

 in Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...

. In 1471, Yermolin was sent to rebuild the ancient Cathedral of St.George

Saint George Cathedral, Yuryev-Polsky

Saint George Cathedral in Yuryev-Polsky is one of a dozen survived white-stone churches which were built in Vladimir-Suzdal Principality in the northeastern Rus prior to the Mongol invasion. Constructed between 1230 and 1234, the cathedral was also the last of these churches to be built, completed...

 in Yuriev-Polsky, which had just collapsed. In 1472, he took part in preparations for the construction of the Assumption Cathedral

Assumption Cathedral

Assumption Cathedral or Dormition Cathedral may refer to a number of Cathedral churches consecrated to the Dormition of the Theotokos in the Orthodox tradition and Assumption of Mary in the Roman Catholic tradition:*The Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir, aka Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir...

in the Kremlin.

At the request of Yermolin, they compiled the so called Yermolin Chronicle, which contained information on different aspects of architecture and construction. There is speculation that some of the text was written by Yermolin himself.