ABSTRACT
A well-organized Façade comprised of symbols of authority would disguise the real supports of Muscovite power until they could be strengthened. Constructing an empire was a process of maintaining a Façade of success. The Muscovite Empire was a Façade of control created by the liminal space resulting from the gap between the tsar's grandiose claims and his nominal control. Throughout his reign, Tsar Ivan travelled on pilgrimages to the holy sites of Orthodox Russia. Both practically and from the point of view of constructing the Façade of authority in the Khanate, Church and state goals were combined together tightly. Moscow's tsar celebrated a major military defeat of a powerful enemy, and the Russian Orthodox Church proudly proclaimed the first Orthodox victory against Islam since the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The expansive Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania fielded the largest cavalry in Europe.
