Greater Church of the Ascension, Eastern Orthodox church in Presnensky District, Moscow, Russia

The Greater Church of the Ascension is a yellow Empire-style building with white trim, a tall bell tower with a dark grey dome and spire, and a central cylindrical drum with arched windows topped by a dark grey dome. Inside, a vaulted hall with painted ceiling panels opens through a large arch to a golden iconostasis; a multi-tiered gold chandelier hangs at the centre.

A wooden church first mentioned in 1619 burned in 1629; Tsarina Natalya Naryshkina built a stone church on the site in 1685–1689. Prince Grigory Potemkin commissioned a new church, but work stalled after his death in 1791. The refectory was laid in 1798, burned in 1812, and finished in 1816; Alexander Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova there on 2 March 1831. The main church was completed in 1848 under Afanasy Grigoriev, and a 61-metre bell tower based on Fyodor Shestakov's unbuilt design was added in 2002–2004.

The name "Greater" distinguishes it from the older Lesser Ascension Church of 1634 nearby. The chapel of ease of Saints Boris and Gleb stands on Arbat Square, not in this building. The parish keeps the memory of Pushkin's 1831 wedding and of Patriarch Tikhon's last service on 5 April 1925, commemorated by a side-chapel in his name.

The church stands on Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street at Nikitskiye Vorota Square, with the 61-metre bell tower added in 2002–2004 on the west side. A ramp and a rebuilt staircase from Malaya Nikitskaya Street, plus a restored fence, ease access. The Boris and Gleb chapel of ease is not here but on Arbat Square.

The 61-metre bell tower on the west side is not historic: it was built in 2002–2004 to a design by restorer Oleg Zhurin, based on Fyodor Shestakov's unexecuted project. Patriarch Alexy II consecrated it on 20 May 2004. During the works the foundation of the 17th-century tent-like belfry, demolished in 1937, was found.