St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow
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The Intercession Cathedral (Pokrovsky Cathedral, better known as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed or St. Basil's Cathedral) was commissioned by Ivan the Terrible and built between 1534 and 1561 in Moscow to commemorate the capture of Khanate of Kazan. Some elements of the Kazan Qolsharif mosque were symbolically incorporated into the cathedral, as the mosque was the main symbol of Khanate of Kazan.
In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ (yurodivy Vassily Blazhenny), a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was named.
Saint Basil's is located at one end of Red Square, just across from the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin. Not particularly large, it consists of nine chapels built on a single foundation. Legend says that Ivan had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded to prevent him from building a more magnificent building for anyone else.
In a garden at the front of the cathedral stands a bronze statue commemorating Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, who rallied Russia's volunteer army against the Polish invaders during the Time of Troubles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The statue was originally constructed in the center of Red Square, but the Soviet government felt it obstructed parades and moved the statue in front of the cathedral in 1936.
Reviews of St. Basil's Cathedral
"A sort of irregular fruit bristling with excrescences, a cantaloupe melon with embroidered edges."
– 19th-century French aristocrat Marquis de Custine
"The exterior is so magical that the interior is a bit of an anticlimax."
– Lonely Planet
Visitor Information for St. Basil's Cathedral
| Address: | Red Square, Moscow, Russia |
| Metro: | Ploshchad Revolutsii |
| Phone: | 095/298-3304 |
| Hours: | Mon.-Sat. 11-6, Sun. 10-6; closed 1st Mon. of month. |
| Cost: | 100R |
More Information on St. Basil's Cathedral
- St. Basil's Cathedral – Fodor's Online Travel Guide
- St. Basil's Cathedral – Moscow-Taxi.com
- St. Basil's Cathedral – Moscow's Districts and Landmarks
- St. Basil's Cathedral (Pokrovsky Sobor) - TripAdvisor
- Photo of St. Basil's in the snow – National Geographic