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Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

The Church of the Intercession on the Moat, popularly known as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, is the greatest sensation of Old Russian architecture and the main masterpiece of a difficult Grozny era. The mystery of its origin is still foggy. The chronicles unequivocally confirm that it was built by the Russian masters Barma and Postnik, but modern art critics confidently speak about European features in its architecture. Perhaps Barma and Postnik worked in a consortium with some forgotten master visiting artist, or maybe they themselves studied on the fives at some European university. But it is no coincidence that the plan of the building is lined with a strict, deeply meaningful divider: four large and four small chapels on the sides of the central temple are a completely renaissance principle. In addition, there are technical issues here, such as the flat brick ceiling of the western porch, which, except from Europe, had no place to take.

At the same time, it is obvious that there was nothing like this before the Pokrovsky Cathedral before us or them. Previously it was assumed that his predecessor could be the five-tower D'yakovskaya church. However, it is now considered proven that the tower, on the contrary, is a late simplified replica, and the Pokrovsky Cathedral, as befits a true masterpiece, was a supernova explosion that has no direct prototypes.

In fact, the traditional Russian church is a cube crowned with one or five chapters. From the beginning of the 16th century tent temples-towers are also included. But the idea of tying nine separate churches in one knot is completely new. The tenth side-altar, a chapel over the grave of the Moscow whacky Basil the Blessed, was already built by the son of Grozny, Fyodor Ivanovich. The Pokrovsky Cathedral did not become a parish, but the small church with the relics of Basil was open to all at any time, and over time the name of the “national” church replaced the official name of the cathedral.

Perhaps surprisingly, the temple’s dissimilarity comes from the fact that architecture here is a means of expressing an almost literary idea. As a matter of fact, any temple is an allegory, a conditional symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven. But the creators of the Blessed One went further: they created not just an image, but in fact a model of the Russian paradise, strictly following the scale of one to infinity. The tent is the vault of heaven, the chapel tower is the cathedral and parish temples. West Entry Jerusalem Tower is decorated with stylized loopholes - this is the gate of the conventional city. The triangles on the faces of the chapels are the roofs of his towers. Heavenly city Jerusalem and at the same time Kitezh Russian fairy tales.

Ivan the Terrible, whom contemporaries called "the husband of human reasoning," loved sly speculative and theological constructions. It is known that as early as 1547 he ordered to decorate the arches of the ceremonial Golden Chamber of his palace with a painting that reflected not only the pages of Scripture, but the entire universe, from the “winds and seasons” to the “feast of wisdom”.

The inconsistency of this festive image with what we know from the school about the Grozny era is striking. How do tyranny, horrors of the oprichnina and the like relate to this joy? Nohow. And the Terrible King, whom we are accustomed to see in the form of an old-faced hook-nosed man with a mad look, was once young and beautiful. He was wise, talented, successful, had a beloved beautiful wife. But in the year when the construction of the Pokrovsky Cathedral was completed, the young queen suddenly died. From this moment on, the suspicion of Ivan Vasilyevich takes on a global scale, and the second half of his rule begins, with the oprichnina and other troubles. The architecture of this time is strict and laconic, and the theme opened by Barma and Postnik will develop only seven decades later, when the country rebelled after the Troubles begins to enjoy life again and Russian cities flourish in patterned temples, as bright as a lonely cathedral on Moscow’s Red Square.

Pokrovsky Cathedral, set outside the Kremlin, in the new center of the growing capital, became a model of an ideal city that had a great influence on the development of the image of Moscow in the future, when it began to grow through dozens of verticals of patterned towers. It is characteristic that Vasily the Blessed himself changed with it: at first he was more strict, and the tent porch, the bell tower and the famous bulb domes appeared in the XVII century. The building does not have a pronounced main facade, it must be viewed from different sides, the best of all - under the sound of bells. The ringing fabulously revives his outlandish lines: "The Diamond Palace is like a mill spinning, and from that palace the whole universe is visible - all kingdoms and lands are in full view."

LOCAL FEATURES
In the ancient stone walls of the cathedral in winter is cold enough - the cathedral is not heated. Museum staff warns that the schedule of the Pokrovsky Cathedral Museum may be changed at temperatures below –15 ° C.

The best points of view and photo / video
The best view of the cathedral opens from the Red Square. Many try to capture in a frame and a monument to Minin and Pozharsky. Beautiful photos are obtained both in the daytime and in the evening thanks to the bright backlighting.

Inside the cathedral for photo and video you need to purchase a ticket.

HISTORY
The Pokrovsky Cathedral is an ensemble of nine independent churches, united by an internal gallery that runs around the central church, and an external bypass gallery built around the entire complex. The temple is decorated with two carved porches with white stone stairs. The church of St. Basil the Blessed and the hipped bell tower are attached to its side.

The Church of the Intercession on the Moat was created in the middle of the XVI century. the decree of Tsar Ivan the Terrible and with the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius. The Cathedral is a monument to victory: most of its churches were consecrated in memory of the events of the Kazan campaign.

The central church of the cathedral is the Intercession of Our Lady. It was on the festive day of the Intercession of Our Lady in 1552 that the troops of Ivan the Terrible began storming Kazan. The cathedral was consecrated on July 12, 1561, according to the new calendar.

The walls of the cathedral are decorated with ancient frescoes and paintings by various masters (the oldest are from the 16th century). Rare Russian icons are also kept here.

The cathedral was built in 1555–1561 by order of Ivan the Terrible in memory of the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate. But in the people it is often called the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.

From an interview with the chief curator of the museum "Pokrovsky Cathedral" L.S. Ouspensky: “The second name appeared like this. St. Basil the Blessed, a fool of Moscow, was buried under the walls of the cathedral, and a chapel was built at the place of his burial. In 1588, when miracles began to work from the relics of St. Basil the Blessed, the son of Ivan the Terrible Fyodor Ioannovich ordered the church to be installed at this place. In the church stood - and still stands - the cancer with the relics of St. Basil. The Intercession Cathedral did not become a parish, the believers did not always have access there. But a small church with the relics of St. Basil the Blessed was open all the time, and believers could come at any time - to worship and venerate the relics of the saint. Over time, the name of the church in the people replaced the main name of the cathedral."

Today the names of the architects of the temple are known. A unique architectural masterpiece was erected under the leadership of Russian architects Postnik and Barma. Their names were discovered at the end of the 19th century in a handwritten collection of the 17th century.

The Church of the Intercession of the Virgin until the end of the 16th century was the tallest building in Moscow - 65 meters. In 1600, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower was built, overtaking the temple by 16 meters in height.

But the appearance of the cathedral over the centuries has changed several times. What was the original appearance of the Intercession Cathedral, says the main curator of the museum "Intercession Cathedral" L.S. Ouspenskaya.

The Intercession Cathedral has a twin brother in St. Petersburg - the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, built in 1907 in memory of Alexander II. The Savior-on-the-Blood was built in the image and likeness of a Moscow church.

The events of the twentieth century were supportive of the Pokrovsky Cathedral. The services in it were not conducted from 1929 to 1991, but the temple was opened to visitors as a branch of the State Historical Museum, restoration and research works were carried out.

As one of the symbols of Moscow, the Pokrovsky Cathedral can often be seen on paintings or on the pages of books. For example, the well-known painting by Fyodor Alekseev “Red Square” and the poem by Andrey Voznesensky “Masters”, dedicated to this temple.

Legends
Rumor attributes to St. Basil the Blessed, in whose honor the cathedral is named, a lot of miracles: he saved the Persian vessel with the Orthodox on board from destruction; having poured wine at a feast in Moscow out of the window, put out the strongest fire ... in Novgorod, and also knew how to predict the future and reveal a lie. He always went half-dressed, kept a strict fast, and endured other hardships. He was the only person whom Ivan IV himself feared.

The legend about the blinding of Barma and Postnik, who built the cathedral, is widely known: Ivan the Terrible, seeing how wonderful the temple turned out to be, ordered Blind Barma and Postnik to be blinded, so that the architects could not build anything like that in the future.

From an interview with the chief curator of the museum "Pokrovsky Cathedral" L.S. Uspenskoy: “Until the end of the 19th century, it was generally believed that a certain foreigner had built the cathedral. According to legend, Ivan the Terrible executed him. The legend of execution came to Russia from Italy, it is associated with the builders of the church of St. Peter in Venice. In each country there is a similar legend-guardian: if the architect was executed, nowhere else in the world would a second such structure appear. From this unknown foreigner, the legend "automatically" switched to Postnik and Barma. In fact, no one blinded them”.

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