Several months later, on 16 August 1239, Prince Vasily of Kostroma wandered while hunting in a forest. While trying to find his way out of a thicket, he saw an icon concealed among fir branches. When he reached out to touch it, the icon mysteriously rose up in the air. The awestruck prince informed the citizens of Kostroma about the miracle he had witnessed and returned with a crowd of people to the forest. They fell prostrate before the icon and prayed to the "Theotokos". They carried the icon to the city and placed it in the Assumption Cathedral. A conflagration destroyed the cathedral and most of its icons soon thereafter, but the Feodorovskaya was found intact on the third day after the fire.