St Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square Moscow, Russia Собор С-Базила на Красной площади, Москве, России
The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat popularly known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555-1561. Built on the order of Ivan IV of Russia to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century. It was the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.
The original building, known as "Trinity Church" and later "Trinity Cathedral", contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church of Intercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). The building's design, shaped as a flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, has no analogues in Russian architecture: "It is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to 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.
The church has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929 and, as of 2011, 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. For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Basil%27s_Cathedral
Photos taken by G. Faulk May, 2011.
Places of Worship Moderator - I need a Russian Orthodox tag please, I will have more photos (including interiors) to post of my recent trip. Thanks! - GF