Saint Basil's Cathedral

   

St Basil's Cathedral
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St Basil's Cathedral

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 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 Spassky tower of the Kremlin. Not particularly large, it consists of nine chapels built on a single foundation.

Closeup of St Basil's Cathedral
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Closeup of St Basil's Cathedral

Legend says Ivan had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev blinded to prevent him from building a more magnificent building for anyone else.


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