Friday, March 13, 2009

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia

Saint Basil's Cathedral is a multi-tented church on the Red Square in Moscow that also features distinctive onion domes.he cathedral was commissioned by Ivan IV in Moscow to commemorate the capture of the Khanate of Kazan, and built from 1555 to 1561. In 1588 Tsar Fedor Ivanovich had a chapel added on the eastern side above the grave of Basil Fool for Christ, a Russian Orthodox saint after whom the cathedral was popularly named.
aint Basil's is located at the southeast 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. The cathedral's design follows that of contemporary tented churches, notably those of Ascension in Kolomenskoye and of St John the Baptist's Decapitation in Dyakovo.
The interior of the cathedral is a collection of separate chapels, each filled with beautiful icons, medieval painted walls, and varying artwork on the top inside of the domes. The feeling is intimate and varied, in contrast to Western cathedrals which usually consist of a massive nave with one artistic style.

Architect:Postnik Yakovlev





No comments:

Post a Comment