This palace was mostly constructed in the mid-seventeenth century for Patriarch Nikon, whose restructurings sparked the break with the Old Believers. The palace holds an exhibit of seventeenth-century household objects, including jewellery, hunting equipment and furniture. At this point you can access the five-domed Church of the Twelve Apostles, which has a gilded, wooden iconostasis and a compilation of icons by the leading seventeenth-century icon painters.

The best part is perhaps the ritual Cross Hall (Krestovaya Palata) where the tsar's and diplomatic feasts were held. From the eighteenth century the room was used to make miro, a sacred oil used during church services, which contains over 30 herbal components; the oven and huge pans from the manufacture process are on exhibit.

Now silent, the palace at its prime was an active place. Apart from the Patriarch's living quarters it had enormous kitchens, warehouses and cellars stocked with foodstuff, workshops, a school for the high-born kids, offices for scribes, dorms for those waiting to be baptised, stables and horse and carriage houses.