St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia
The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, commonly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is a church in Red Square in Moscow, Russia and is one of the most popular symbols of the country. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat or Pokrovsky Cathedral. It was built from 1555–1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600. The Saint Basil's Cathedral is not to be confused with the Moscow Kremlin.

The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight churches arranged around a ninth, central church of Intercession; a tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, perceived (as with all churches in Byzantine Christianity) as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City, was popularly known as the "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the tsar.

The building is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, a design that has no parallel in Russian architecture. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West, states that "it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to the fifteenth century ... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century.

As part of the program of state atheism, the church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union's anti-theist campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929 and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. It is not actually within the Kremlin, but often served as a visual metonym for Russia in western media throughout the Cold War and to the modern day.

12 Facts About Saint Basil’s Cathedral
Originally constructed in the mid-16th century, Saint Basil’s Cathedral looms majestically near the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, and has stood watch over countless historical and political events in the country’s history.

1. IT WAS BUILT BY IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
The first Tsar of Russia, Ivan Vasilyevich—also known as Ivan Grozny (a nickname meaning “sparking terror or fear,” or "stern"), Ivan IV, and the Grand Prince of Moscow—ordered the construction of the cathedral in 1554. Ivan, grandson of Ivan the Great, saw the cathedral’s completion in 1561, but upon his death was interred at the nearby Archangel Cathedral.

2. THE CATHEDRAL WAS CONSTRUCTED IN HONOR OF A MILITARY CONQUEST.
Ivan’s goal of military dominance over a central Russian state led to numerous conflicts during his reign. In the 1550s, his armies defeated the independent Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakahn, and the church was built in honor of those victories.

3. IVAN ALLEGEDLY BLINDED THE CATHEDRAL'S ARCHITECT.
Stories and myths abound of Ivan’s raging temper, one of which involves him purposefully blinding the cathedral’s (unnamed) Italian architect so that its design could never be replicated. Other legends state that the architects were a pair of Russians named Barma and Posnik, or that they may have been one person.

4. MANY NAMES HAVE GRACED THE CATHEDRAL.
Dedicated to the protection of the Virgin Mary, the church is officially known as the Church of the Intercession, or the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat. It has also been called Pokrovsky Cathedral, Pokrovsky Sobor, and Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny.

5. IT WAS EVENTUALLY NAMED FOR A RUSSIAN 'FOOL.'
Born in 1468, Basil (also called the Blessed, the Beatific, and the Wonderworker of Moscow) was the son of commoners and was trained to be a cobbler. He became known for his prophetic powers and for being a “fool for Christ,” and following his death in 1557 was buried in the cathedral that would take its name after him.

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[dustingriffith]

I am glad that the beautiful cathedral has survived for over 400 years. By the year 2061, it will be the 500th Birthday for the St. Basil's Cathedral. God save Russian Orthodox!