Establishment of Russia's First Printing Press

Timeline

1. 1553Moscow Kremlin · RussiaAfter conquering Kazan, Ivan IV promoted national cultural integration and in 1553 ordered the establishment of a printing yard in Moscow, importing movable-type equipment and craftsmen, jointly supervised by the court and the church, with the goal of standardizing the dissemination of liturgical books and decrees with uniform texts.
2. 1554–1564Moscow · RussiaPrinters Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets and others trial-printed and proofread Cyrillic type at the Moscow Printing Yard. Between 1563 and 1564 they published the first complete printed book, the Apostol, marking the formal beginning of indigenous mechanical book printing in Russia; printing activities subsequently expanded to Novgorod and elsewhere.