St. Basil's Cathedral (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address and website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.
- Tours for May in Russia
- Last minute tours Worldwide
Previous photo Next photo
The unusually beautiful St. Basil's Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Intercession Holy Mother of God, which is on the Moat, flaunting on Red Square, is one of the most famous architectural monuments of Moscow. At the sight of a multi-colored temple, the tops of which are one more beautiful than the other, foreigners gasp in admiration and grab their cameras, but compatriots proudly declare: yes, that’s what it is - majestic, elegant, withstood even in difficult times for all churches Soviet time.
There is even a historical story regarding the last fact. Allegedly, when presenting a project for the reconstruction of Red Square to Stalin, Kaganovich swept away the model of the temple from the diagram, making way for demonstrations of workers, to which the Secretary General sternly replied: “Lazarus, put it in its place.” Whether it was so or not, the temple was one of the few that survived and was constantly restored throughout the second half of the 20th century.
History and modernity
The Intercession Cathedral was built in 1565-1561. by decree of Ivan the Terrible, who vowed to build a church in memory of this event in the event of the successful capture of Kazan. The temple consists of nine churches on one foundation and a bell tower. At first glance, it can be difficult to understand the structure of the temple, but once you imagine that you are looking at it from above (or actually look at the temple from this angle on our live map), everything immediately becomes clear. The main pillar-shaped church in honor of the Intercession Mother of God with a tent topped with a small dome, the axial churches are surrounded on four sides, between which four more smaller ones are built. The tented bell tower was built later, in the 1670s.
Today the cathedral is both a temple and a branch of the Historical Museum at the same time. In 1990, services were resumed. Architecture, external decorative decoration, monumental painting, frescoes, rare monuments of Russian icon painting - all this makes the cathedral unique in its beauty and significance as a temple in Russia. In 2011, the cathedral turned 450 years old, anniversary events were held throughout the summer, chapels that were previously inaccessible to visitors were opened for the memorable date, and a new exhibition was arranged.
St. Basil's Cathedral
Information
Address: Red Square, 2.
Opening hours: excursions are held daily from 11:00 - 16:00.
Entrance: 250 RUB. Prices on the page are for October 2018.
The central church of the Cathedral is not accessible for inspection due to restoration work.
In 1561, one of the most famous churches in Russia was consecrated - the Intercession Cathedral, or, as it is otherwise called, St. Basil's Cathedral. The portal "Culture.RF" remembered Interesting Facts from the history of its creation.
Temple-monument
The Intercession Cathedral is not just a church, but a temple-monument erected in honor of the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to the Russian state. The main battle, in which Russian troops were victorious, took place on the day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And the temple was consecrated in honor of this Christian holiday. The cathedral consists of separate churches, each of which is also consecrated in honor of the holidays on which the decisive battles for Kazan took place - Trinity, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and others.
A huge construction project in record time
Initially, a wooden Trinity Church stood on the site of the cathedral. Temples were erected around it during the campaigns against Kazan - they celebrated the loud victories of the Russian army. When Kazan finally fell, Metropolitan Macarius suggested that Ivan the Terrible rebuild the architectural ensemble in stone. He wanted to surround the central temple with seven churches, but for the sake of symmetry the number was increased to eight. Thus, 9 independent churches and a belfry were built on one foundation; they were connected by vaulted passages. Outside, the churches were surrounded by an open gallery, which was called a walkway - it was a kind of church porch. Each temple was crowned with its own dome with a unique design and original finish drum The 65-meter-high structure, grandiose at the time, was built in just six years - from 1555 to 1561. Up until 1600 it was the most high building Moscow.
Temple in honor of the soothsayer
Although the official name of the cathedral is the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, everyone knows it as St. Basil's Cathedral. According to legend, the famous Moscow miracle worker collected money for the construction of the temple, and then was buried near its walls. The holy fool St. Basil the Blessed walked the streets of Moscow barefoot, almost without clothes, almost all year, preaching mercy and help to others. There were also legends about his prophetic gift: they say he predicted the Moscow fire of 1547. The son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, ordered the construction of a church dedicated to St. Basil the Blessed. It became part of the Intercession Cathedral. The church was the only temple that always worked - all year round, day and night. Later, by its name, parishioners began to call the cathedral St. Basil's Cathedral.
Louis Bichebois. Lithograph "St. Basil's Church"
Vitaly Grafov. Moscow Wonderworker Blessed Basil. 2005
The royal treasury and lectern at Lobnoye Mesto
Not in the cathedral basements. Instead, they built a common foundation - a vaulted basement without supporting pillars. They were ventilated through special narrow openings - vents. Initially, the premises were used as a warehouse - the royal treasury and the valuables of some wealthy Moscow families were kept there. Later, the narrow entrance to the basement was blocked - it was found only during the restoration of the 1930s.
With its colossal external dimensions, inside the Intercession Cathedral is quite small. Perhaps because it was originally built as a memorial monument. In winter, the cathedral was completely closed, as it was not heated. When services began to be held in the temple, especially on large church holidays, very few people could fit inside. Then the lectern was transferred to Execution place, and the cathedral seemed to serve as a huge altar.
Russian architect or European master
It is still not known for certain who built St. Basil's Cathedral. Researchers have several options. One of them, the cathedral, was erected by the ancient Russian architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Barma. According to another version, Yakovlev and Barma were actually one person. The third option says that the author of the cathedral was a foreign architect. After all, the composition of St. Basil's Cathedral has no analogues in ancient Russian architecture, but prototypes of the building can be found in Western European art.
Whoever the architect was, there are sad legends about his future fate. According to them, when Ivan the Terrible saw the temple, he was struck by its beauty and ordered the architect to be blinded so that he would never repeat his majestic construction anywhere. Another legend says that the foreign builder was executed altogether - for the same reason.
Iconostasis with a turn
The iconostasis for St. Basil's Cathedral was created in 1895 according to the design of the architect Andrei Pavlinov. This is the so-called iconostasis with a turn - it is so large for a small temple that it continues on the side walls. It is decorated with ancient icons - the 16th-century Our Lady of Smolensk and the image of St. Basil, painted in the 18th century.
The temple is also decorated with paintings - they were created on the walls of the building in different years. Here St. Basil and the Mother of God are depicted; the main dome is decorated with the face of the Savior Almighty.
Iconostasis in St. Basil's Cathedral. 2016. Photo: Vladimir d'Ar
“Lazarus, put him in his place!”
The cathedral was almost destroyed several times. During the Patriotic War of 1812, French stables were located here, and after that the temple was going to be blown up. Already in Soviet times, Stalin's associate Lazar Kaganovich proposed dismantling the cathedral so that there would be more space on Red Square for parades and demonstrations. He even created a model of the square, and the temple building was easily removed from it. But Stalin, seeing the architectural model, said: “Lazarus, put it in its place!”
They freeze in admiration when they see St. Basil's Cathedral, unrivaled in its beauty, next to the Kremlin. This monument Russian history and culture with its colorful painted domes has long become an integral part of the capital of Russia and its symbol. The official name of this attraction is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Moat. Until the 17th century, the cathedral was called Trinity, since the originally built wooden church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Currently, the cathedral is included in the list of world cultural heritage and is protected by UNESCO.
History of the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral.
The order for the construction of the Intercession Cathedral was given by Ivan the Terrible in honor of the victory over the Kazan Khanate and the storming of the impregnable Kazan fortress. This event took place on the Feast of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in honor of which the temple was named. Construction began in 1555 and was completed six years later. Reliable information about the architects who built the cathedral has not been preserved. Most researchers are inclined to believe that this is the work of the Pskov master Postnik Yakovlev, who had the nickname Barma.
After the addition of St. Basil's Church to the existing churches in 1588, the cathedral acquired its name. According to the author's plan, the ensemble of temples was a symbol of Heavenly Jerusalem. At the end of the 16th century, instead of the burnt church coverings, figured domes, familiar to our eyes, appeared.
In the 80s of the 17th century, porches decorated with tents were erected over the stairs leading to the temple, and the open gallery surrounding the cathedral acquired vaults. In painting the surface of the gallery, the masters used herbal motifs, and during the restoration work the first half of the 19th century centuries, a cast-iron fence was installed around the cathedral.
Since the first days of Soviet power, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow has been under state protection, although until 1923 it was in disrepair. After the creation of the historical and architectural museum in it, capital improvements were made construction works and collection of funds was carried out. On May 21, 1923, the first visitors crossed its threshold. Since 1928 it has been a branch of the State Historical Museum. At the end of 1929, the bells were removed from the temple and services were prohibited. During the Great Patriotic War the museum was closed, but after its completion and regular restoration activities, the museum reopened its doors to visitors. The beginning of the 90s of the 20th century was marked by the resumption of church services in the temple. Since that time, the cathedral has been jointly used by the museum and the Russian Orthodox Church.
The height of St. Basil's Cathedral is 65 meters. But, despite this modest figure, the beauty of the cathedral leaves no one indifferent. Due to the fact that its ensemble includes nine churches built on a common foundation, it is included in the list of the largest cathedrals in the world in terms of volume. The uniqueness of the temple is that it does not have a clearly defined main entrance. When you first enter the temple, you can get confused about its layout. But, if you look at it from a bird's eye view, or at its drawing (top view), placed on the wall of one of the churches, everything becomes clear and understandable.
Church of St. Basil's Cathedral.
In the center of the complex there is a pillar-shaped church, consecrated in honor of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The central exits of the main temples surrounding it face the four cardinal directions. Between them, smaller churches were erected, completing the composition. When looking at the entire ensemble from above, you can clearly see two squares, turned to each other at an angle and forming a regular eight-pointed star, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sides of the squares themselves, in addition to the four ends life-giving cross, meant firmness of faith. And the unification of churches around the Pillar Temple symbolizes the unity of faith and God's protection, spread over Russia. The bell tower, built in 1670, is located a little further away.
Cache in the temple.
Another feature of the unique ensemble is the absence of basements. It was erected on a basement - a complex of premises, the height of the walls of which exceeds six meters, and the thickness reaches more than three meters. There are special openings in its walls that serve to create a constant microclimate in the premises, independent of the time of year. In ancient times, the basement was used as a secret storage for church valuables and the royal treasury. The hiding place could only be accessed from the second floor of the central cathedral via a secret staircase located in the wall. Now there is a storage facility for icons that belong to the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is on the Moat. The oldest of them is the image of St. Basil, dating from the end of the 16th century.
The entire ensemble is surrounded by a covered bypass gallery, which has long become one with it. Like the inner circumference, it is painted with grass and plant patterns dating back to the 17th century. Their floors are lined with bricks, partly with herringbone masonry, and some areas with a special “rosette” pattern. Interestingly, bricks preserved from the sixteenth century are more resistant to abrasion than those used in restoration work.
St. Basil's Cathedral inside.
The interior decoration of all the nine temples that make up the complex is not similar to one another and differs in the style of painting, color scheme and in the manner of its execution. Some of the walls are decorated with oil paintings, and some still have frescoes dating back to the sixteenth century. The main wealth of the cathedral is its unique iconostasis, which contains more than four hundred priceless icons dating back to the period of the 16th-19th centuries and belonging to the brushes of Moscow and Novgorod masters.
After the return of the temple to the fold Orthodox Church that happened in Holy holiday Intercession, the museum began resuming the collection of bells. Today you can see nineteen exhibits representing masterpieces of foundry art. The “oldest” of them was cast five years before the capture of Kazan, and the youngest turns twenty years old in 2016. You can see with your own eyes the armor and weapons with which the troops of Ivan the Terrible went to attack the Kazan Kremlin.
In addition to unique icons, inside St. Basil's Cathedral you can see paintings by Russian masters of portrait and landscape painting of the nineteenth century. The pride of the museum exhibition is the collection of ancient handwritten and first-printed books. You can view all the priceless exhibits of the museum and wander around the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin as part of a group excursion, or order an individual visit. It should be remembered that you can take photos and videos by making a separate payment through the museum’s cash desk. Between the basement and the second floor of the temple there are shops where you can buy souvenirs.
The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Moat, popularly known as St. Basil's Cathedral, is included in the list of the main attractions of Moscow and Russia as a whole.
A Brief History of St. Basil's Cathedral
In the 16th century, on the territory of the modern temple there was a wooden Trinity Church, which was also referred to as “Jerusalem”.
The construction of St. Basil's Cathedral began in 1555 thanks to a vow made by Ivan the Terrible. The Tsar solemnly promised that if the Kazan campaign was successfully completed, he would build an amazing temple in memory of this event.
After each successful battle, a small wooden church was built next to the Trinity Church in honor of the saint who was honored on the day of the victorious duel.
After the triumphant return of the army to the capital, Ivan the Terrible decided to erect a large structure of brick and white stone on the site of these churches - the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat.
The name is explained simply: it was on the Feast of the Intercession that Kazan was taken. As for the moat, there used to be a defensive moat there, stretching along the Kremlin from the side of the main square. Now its place is occupied by the Soviet necropolis and the Lenin Mausoleum.
Construction of the Intercession Cathedral was completed in 1561. In 1588, an extension was added in honor of the Moscow holy fool St. Basil the Blessed.
Muscovites were very fond of St. Basil, whose prophecies tended to come true, so the temple in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God is still known under the name of the blessed one, although only one of the boundaries of the cathedral is dedicated to him.
St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow was repeatedly completed and restored, came under threat of demolition, was robbed and restored. After the revolution and until 1991, it functioned exclusively as a museum. Nowadays, the cathedral on Red Square is under the joint use of the State Historical Museum and the Russian Orthodox Church.
Who built St. Basil's Cathedral
It is not known for certain who was the architect of the Intercession Cathedral and how many there were. One version claims that its architects were certain Postnik and Barma. However, the latest research suggests that the creator of the project, Ivan Yakovlevich Barma, is nicknamed Postnik. There is a third version about the architect of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow; perhaps it was an unknown Italian master, which explains the combination of elements of native Russian and Western European architecture of the Renaissance.
Architecture of the Cathedral on Red Square
If you look at St. Basil's Cathedral from above, the view from above will resemble an eight-pointed star, which in Orthodoxy is a symbol of the Mother of God.
The temples are united by two galleries. Two porches are attached to the cathedral from the west, with white stone stairs leading to them. From the northeast there is the tenth aisle - St. Basil's Church, in honor of which the popular name of the most famous Moscow temple was established. The eleventh aisle is a bell tower topped with an octagonal tent in the southeast of the building.
Thus, it is easy to draw a conclusion about the number of domes on St. Basil’s Cathedral: there are eleven of them.
St. Basil's Cathedral: interesting facts
- An ancient legend about the builders of St. Basil's Cathedral says that when the cathedral was built, the architects Postnik and Barma, by order of Ivan the Terrible, were blinded so that they could no longer build anything so beautiful.
- The interior design of St. Basil's Cathedral under Ivan IV was much simpler than it is now. Unique frescoes on the walls were created already in the 17th century. Externally temple complex also looked completely different. There were 25 domes, their color was golden, and their shape was not onion-shaped, but helmet-shaped. The walls were originally white. The building acquired its current appearance during the 16th, 17th and even 19th centuries.
- The height of the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat is 61 meters, which was very, very high for the 16th century.
- Until the end of the 16th century, in the niches of the lower floor of the Intercession Church there were caches in which the royal treasury was kept, as well as the property of the richest townspeople.
- In 1812, Napoleon plundered the valuables of the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, and tried to blow up the building itself, however, according to legend, the fuses leading to the explosives went out due to a sudden rain.
- There is also a legend from Soviet times, according to which Stalin himself saved the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow from demolition. Looking at the model of Red Square brought by Kaganovich, from which the removable model of the cathedral had been removed, Joseph Vissarionovich exclaimed: “Lazarus, put it in its place!”, thus making it clear that he did not like the idea of clearing the place for military parades.
Opening hours of the Intercession Cathedral Museum
As a museum, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is open daily.
Museum opening hours:
- May, September-October: from 11:00 to 18:00;
- June-August: from 10:00 to 19:00;
- November-April: 11:00 to 17:00.