Ermolin, Vasilii Dmitrievich

Date of birth unknown; died between 1481 and 1485. Russian architect and sculptor.

Ermolin, an influential merchant and contractor, headed a workshop of master builders in Moscow. In 1462 he restored worn-out sections of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin. From 1462 to 1464, Ermolin rebuilt the Frolov Gate (present-day Spasskie Gate), decorating it with stone reliefs of the victorious St. George (a fragment is in the Tret’iakov Gallery) and Dmitrii Solunskii (not preserved). In 1469 he built the refectory (not preserved) of the St. Sergius Trinity Monastery and restored the church on top of the Golden Gate in Vladimir. In 1471, Ermolin restored the Cathedral of St. George in lur’ev-Pol’skii. He commissioned the compilation of the Ermolin Chronicle; its exposition on architecture and construction was apparently written by Ermolin.