During his journey through ancient Russian towns, the artist also visited Rostov the Great, where he made several sketches of the Church of the Savior on the Porch in the Kremlin with paintings dating to the 17th century. The author himself expressed his experience from visiting this monument of ancient Russian architecture as follows:

“Finally, you enter the labyrinth of Rostov passages, where each open door amazes you with an unexpected harmonious chord of colors. Or faces are slightly tinted on the ash-white walls; or you feel the heat of brown and red-hot tones; or the calm of the pensive blue green; or the gray shadow of a figure flooded with ocher seems to stop you by severe words of a canon.”