The history of the creation of St. Basil's Cathedral. The main symbol of Russia is St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral (Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat).

St. Basil's Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Moat - this is its canonical full name - was built on Red Square in 1555-1561. This cathedral is rightfully considered one of the main symbols not only of Moscow, but of the whole of Russia. And the point is not only that it was built in the very center of the capital and in memory of a very important event. St. Basil's Cathedral is also simply extraordinarily beautiful.

In the place where the cathedral now flaunts, in the 16th century there was a stone Trinity Church, “which is on the Moat”. There really was a defensive moat here, stretching along the entire wall of the Kremlin along Red Square. This ditch was filled up only in 1813. Now in its place is a Soviet necropolis and a mausoleum.

And in the 16th century, in 1552, Blessed Basil was buried near the stone Trinity Church, who died on August 2 (according to other sources, he died not in 1552, but in 1551). The Moscow “Holy Fool for Christ’s sake” Vasily was born in 1469 in the village of Elokhovo, from his youth he was endowed with the gift of clairvoyance; he predicted a terrible fire in Moscow in 1547, which destroyed almost the entire capital.

Ivan the Terrible honored and even feared the Blessed One. After the death of St. Basil the Blessed, he was buried in the cemetery at the Trinity Church (probably by order of the king), with great honors. And soon the grandiose construction of the new Pokrovsky Cathedral began here, where the relics of Vasily were later transferred, on whose grave miraculous healings began to take place.
The construction of the new cathedral was preceded by a long building history. These were the years of the great Kazan campaign, to which colossal importance was attached: until now, all campaigns of Russian troops against Kazan ended in failure. Ivan the Terrible, who personally led the army in 1552, vowed to build a grandiose temple in Moscow on Red Square in the event of a successful end to the campaign in memory of this.

While the war was going on, in honor of each major victory, a small wooden church was erected next to the Trinity Church in honor of the saint on whose day the victory was won. When the Russian army returned to Moscow in triumph, Ivan the Terrible decided to put one large, stone church on the site of the eight wooden churches that had been built - for centuries.

There is a lot of controversy about the builder (or builders) of St. Basil's Cathedral. It was traditionally believed that Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the masters Barma and Postnik Yakovlev, but many researchers now agree that it was one person - Ivan Yakovlevich Barma, nicknamed Postnik.

There is also a legend that after the construction, Grozny ordered the craftsmen to be blinded so that they could no longer build anything like this, but this is nothing more than a legend, since the documents indicate that after the construction of the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, Master Postnik "according to Barma" ( i.e., nicknamed Barma) built the Kazan Kremlin. A number of other documents have also been published where a person named Postnik Barma is mentioned. Researchers attribute to this master the construction of not only St. Basil's Cathedral and the Kazan Kremlin, but also the Assumption Cathedral and St. Nicholas Church in Sviyazhsk, the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin, and even (according to some dubious sources) the Church of St. John the Baptist in Dyakovo.
St. Basil's Cathedral consists of nine churches on one foundation. Entering inside the temple, it is even difficult to understand its layout without making a circle or two around the entire building. The central throne of the temple is dedicated to the feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God. It was on this day that the wall of the Kazan fortress was destroyed by an explosion and the city was taken. Here full list all eleven thrones that existed in the cathedral before 1917:
* Central - Pokrovsky
* Vostochny - Trinity
* Southeast - Alexander Svirsky
* South - Nicholas the Wonderworker (Velikoretsk Icon of Nicholas the Wonderworker)
* Southwestern - Varlaam Khutynsky
* Western - Entrance to Jerusalem
* Northwestern - St. Gregory of Armenia
* North - St. Adrian and Natalia
* Northeast - John the Merciful
* Above the grave of St. John the Blessed - the chapel of the Nativity of the Virgin (1672), adjacent to the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed
* In the annex of 1588 - chapel of St. Basil the Blessed

The cathedral is built of brick. In the 16th century, this material was quite new: before traditional material for churches there were white hewn stone and thin brick - plinth. The central part is crowned with a high magnificent tent with a "fiery" decor almost to the middle of its height. Surrounding the tent on all sides are the domes of the aisles, none of which is similar to the other.
Not only does the pattern of the large bulbous domes differ; if you look closely, it is easy to see that the finish of each drum is unique. Initially, apparently, the domes were helmet-shaped, but by the end of the 16th century they were definitely onion-shaped. Their current colors were established only in the middle of the 19th century.
The main thing in the appearance of the temple is that it is devoid of a clearly expressed facade. From which side you approach the cathedral, it seems that it is precisely this side that is the main one. The height of St. Basil's Cathedral is 65 meters. For a long time, until the end of the XVI century, it was the tallest building in Moscow. Initially, the cathedral was painted "like a brick"; later it was repainted, the researchers found the remains of drawings depicting false windows and kokoshniks, as well as commemorative inscriptions made with paint.
In 1680, the cathedral was significantly restored. Shortly before that, in 1672, a small chapel was added to it over the grave of another revered Moscow blessed - John, who was buried here in 1589. The restoration of 1680 was expressed in the fact that the wooden galleries were replaced with brick galleries, instead of the belfry they arranged a hipped bell tower and made a new covering.
At the same time, the thrones of thirteen or fourteen churches that stood on Red Square along the moat, where public executions were held, were transferred to the basement of the temple (all these churches had the prefix “on blood” in their names). In 1683, a tiled frieze was laid around the entire perimeter of the temple, on the tiles of which the entire history of the building was outlined.
The cathedral was rebuilt, although not so significantly, in the second half of the 18th century, in 1761-1784: the arches of the basement were laid, the ceramic frieze was removed, and all the walls of the temple outside and inside were painted with a “grassy” ornament.
During the war of 1812, St. Basil's Cathedral was for the first time at risk of demolition. Leaving Moscow, the French mined it, but they could not blow it up, they just plundered it.
Immediately after the end of the war, one of the most beloved temples of Muscovites was restored, and in 1817 O.I. Bove, who was engaged in the restoration of post-fire Moscow, strengthened and decorated the retaining wall of the temple from the side of the Moscow River with a cast-iron fence.
During the 19th century, the cathedral was restored several more times, and at the end of the century, the first attempt at its scientific study was even made.
In 1919, the rector of the cathedral, Fr. John Vostorgov, was shot “for anti-Semitic propaganda”. In 1922, valuables were seized from the cathedral, and in 1929 the cathedral was closed and transferred to the Historical Museum.

On this, it would seem, it was possible to calm down. But the worst time was yet to come. In 1936, Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky was summoned and offered to take measurements of the Church of the Intercession on the Moat, so that it could be safely demolished. The temple, according to the authorities, interfered with the movement of cars on Red Square ...

Baranovsky acted in a way that probably no one expected from him. Directly stating to officials that the demolition of the cathedral is madness and a crime, he promised to immediately commit suicide if this happens. Needless to say, after that Baranovsky was immediately arrested. When six months later he was released, the cathedral continued to stand in its place ...

There are many legends about how the cathedral was preserved. The most popular is the story of how Kaganovich, presenting to Stalin a project for the reconstruction of Red Square for the convenience of holding parades and demonstrations, removed a model of St. Basil's Cathedral from the square, to which Stalin commanded him: "Lazar, put it in its place!". This seems to have decided the fate of the unique monument...
One way or another, St. Basil's Cathedral, having survived all those who tried to destroy it, remained standing on Red Square. In 1923-1949, large-scale research was carried out in it, which made it possible to restore the original appearance of the gallery. In 1954-1955, the cathedral was again, as in the 16th century, painted “like a brick”. The branch of the Historical Museum is located in the cathedral, and the flow of tourists there does not dry out.

It has occasionally hosted services since 1990, but the rest of the time it is still a museum. But the main thing is probably not even that. The main thing is that one of the most beautiful Moscow and Russian churches in general is still standing on the square, and no one else has any idea to remove it from here. I would like to hope that this is forever.

Iconostasis of the Church of the Intercession Holy Mother of God. Fragment

Intercession Cathedral on the moat (St. Basil's Cathedral) on Red Square in Moscow. 1555-1561. Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God. Center Pillar Tent

One of the brightest, majestic and mysterious architectural monuments of the capital is St. Basil's. Back in the 16th century, wanderers and visiting people, visiting this cathedral, forever remained fascinated by its stateliness and beauty. But there are still several legends in the world about who built St. Basil's Cathedral.

History of St. Basil's Cathedral

The construction of the cathedral, and that is how it is called by the people, began in 1555. And in just 6 years, the builders built a stone palace of unprecedented beauty. The order to lay the temple came from the Tsar of All Russia, Ivan the Terrible, in honor of the victory that the Russian troops won over the Kazan Khan. This event happened on one of the Orthodox holidays - the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, so this cathedral is often called the Church of the Intercession Mother of God.

The history of St. Basil's Cathedral is still mysterious and unclear.

Legend one

The temple was built by an architect whose real name is Postnik Yakovlev. He received such a nickname because he fasted carefully and for a long time. It was one of the most skillful masters of Pskov. Later, he was sent to Kazan to supervise the construction of a stone city. An interesting parable tells about the collection of money for the construction of the parish. Basil the Blessed lived and begged in Moscow. He threw the collected coins over his right shoulder into one place, and no one dared to take at least one. Over time, when there was enough money, Vasily gave them to Ivan the Terrible.

But the facts show that it's just beautiful fairy tale, since the holy fool died even before it was decided to build a cathedral. Nevertheless, it was on the site of the construction of the building that St. Basil the Blessed was buried.

Legend two

Over the construction of the cathedral, two masters conjured at once - Postnik and Barma. Legend has it that as soon as Ivan the Terrible saw the completed building, he was struck by its singularity and ensemble. So that the architects could no longer repeat such beauty, the king ordered the architects' eyes to be gouged out. But this version does not find confirmation, since the name of Postnik is found in later chronicles. It turns out that the master could be engaged in the construction of other buildings.

Legend three

The most realistic version is the following: the temple was erected under the guidance of an architect who came from Western Europe. The proof of this fact is considered to be an unusual style in which the patterns of Russian and Western European architecture are intertwined. But this version has not been officially confirmed anywhere.

Throughout its long history, the temple could be destroyed or devastated. But always some miracle saved this pride of Russia.

In the 18th century, during a fire in Moscow, the building was engulfed in flames, but the courageous Muscovites saved the temple as best they could. As a result, the building was damaged, but survived. Later it was recreated in almost the same form as before the conflagration.

In the 19th century, when Napoleon entered the capital of Russia, sheds for horses were built in the cathedral. Later, when leaving Moscow, the emperor in a rage ordered not to leave even a stone in this cathedral. The wonderful structure was to be blown up. And again the heroic Muscovites and the Lord God helped to defend the temple. When the French soldiers began to light the wicks that went to the barrels of gunpowder, people began to put out the fire at the cost of their lives. And then the rain came to their aid. The downpour poured down with such crushing force that it extinguished all sparks.

Already in the 20th century, Kaganovich, showing a model of the renovation and reconstruction of Red Square to Joseph Stalin, removed the figurine of the temple, deciding to demolish it forever. But the supreme commander-in-chief said menacingly: "Lazar, put me in his place!"

In 1936, during the construction highways it was decided to destroy the temple, as it interfered with the movement. But the Moscow restorer Baranovsky came to his defense. The Kremlin received a telegram from him: "If you decide to blow up the temple, blow it up with me!"

In appearance, this picturesque building is an ensemble of churches. In the very center stands the Church of the Intercession, the highest among all. There are 8 more aisles around it. Each temple is crowned with a dome. If you look at the cathedral from a bird's eye view, this building is five-pointed star. It is a symbol of heavenly Jerusalem.

Each church is inherently unique and unrepeatable. They received their names from the name of the holidays on which the decisive battles for Kazan fell.

In honor of the feast of the Trinity.
Nicholas the Wonderworker (in honor of the Velikoretsky icon).
Palm Sunday, or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
Martyrs Cyprian and Ustina. In the future, Adrian and Natalia.
Saints Paul, Alexander and John of Constantinople - until the 18th century, then John the Merciful.
Alexander Svirsky.
Varlaam Khutynsky;
Gregory of Armenia.

Later, another chapel was added in honor of the holy fool Basil the Blessed.

Each dome has its own various decorations - kokoshniks, cornices, windows and niches. All temples are connected by ceilings and vaults.

A special place is given to paintings depicting portraits of eminent persons and colorful landscape sketches. Everyone can feel the atmosphere of the times of Ivan the Terrible if they carefully study the church utensils of that time.

At the very bottom is the basement, which forms the foundation of the cathedral. It consists of private rooms, in which the treasury was previously hidden, and rich citizens brought their acquired goods here.

It is impossible to describe the beauty of this temple. In order to fall in love with this place forever, you must definitely visit it. Then pride will appear in the heart of any person that this unique and mysterious cathedral is located in Russia. And it doesn't matter who built St. Basil's Cathedral, this fantastic and stunningly beautiful symbol of our Motherland.

Today, July 12, the Intercession Cathedral, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, celebrates its 450th anniversary. This date is not accidental: on July 2 (June 29, according to the old style), 1561, the central Intercession Church of the cathedral was consecrated.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral, is located in the southern part of Red Square in Moscow, near the Spassky Gates of the Kremlin, above the descent to the Moscow River. It was built in the middle of the 16th century by order of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible to commemorate the conquest of the Kazan Khanate - part of the former Golden Horde - as a token of gratitude for the victory.

What used to stand on the site of the Pokrovsky Cathedral is not exactly known. Russian chronicles contain fragmentary and conflicting reports about wooden and stone churches. This gave rise to many conjectures, versions and legends.

According to one version, shortly after the return of Ivan IV the Terrible from the Kazan campaign of 1552, on the site of the future Church of the Intercession on the Moat on the edge of the Moscow River, a wooden church was laid on a hill in the name of Life-Giving Trinity with seven aisles.

Saint Macarius Metropolitan of Moscow advised Ivan the Terrible to create a stone church here. Metropolitan Macarius also owned the main compositional idea of the future church.

The first reliable mention of the construction of the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God dates back to the autumn of 1554. It is believed that it was a wooden cathedral. It stood for a little over half a year and was dismantled before the construction of the stone cathedral began in the spring of 1555.

Intercession Cathedral was erected by Russian architects Barma and Postnik (there is a version that Postnik and Barma are the names of one person). According to legend, so that the architects could not create a new better creation, Tsar Ivan IV, upon completion of the construction of an outstanding masterpiece of architecture, ordered them to be blinded. Subsequently, the inconsistency of this fiction was proved.

The construction of the temple was carried out only 6 years and only in warm time of the year. The chronicle contains a description of the "miraculous" finding by the masters of the ninth, southern throne, after the entire construction was almost completed. However, the clear symmetry inherent in the cathedral convinces us that the architects initially had an idea about the compositional structure of the future temple: it was supposed to put eight aisles around the central ninth church. The temple was built of brick, and the foundation, plinth and some decorative elements were made of white stone.

By the autumn of 1559 the cathedral was basically completed. On the feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God, all the churches were consecrated, with the exception of the central one, since "the large church of the middle Intercession of that year was not completed."

The consecration of the Intercession Church and, accordingly, the entire cathedral took place on July 12 (June 29, according to the old style), 1561. The church was consecrated by Metropolitan Macarius.

Each cathedral church received its own dedication. The Eastern Church was consecrated in the name of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity. Researchers are still looking for an answer to why this church got its name. There are several hypotheses. It is known that in honor of the "Holy Life-Giving Trinity" in 1553 a monastery was founded in conquered Kazan. It is also believed that the wooden Trinity Church originally stood on the site of the Intercession Cathedral, which gave the name to one of the aisles of the future temple.

Four side aisles were consecrated in honor of the saints, on whose days of memory the most important events of the Kazan campaign took place: Cyprian and Justina (October 2 (15) - on this day the assault on Kazan ended), Gregory, the Enlightener of Great Armenia (on the day of his memory September 30 (13 October) there was an explosion of the Arskaya tower in Kazan), Alexander Svirsky (on the day of his memory on August 30 (September 12), a victory was won over the army of Tsarevich Yepanchi, who was hurrying from the Crimea to help the Tatars), the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople Alexander, John and Paul the New ( commemorated also on August 30).

Three more chapels are dedicated to Nikolai Velikoretsky, Varlaam Khutynsky and the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem. The central throne is named in honor of the Intercession of the Virgin, since on October 1 (14) on the day of this holiday, which symbolized the intercession of the Mother of God for the Christian race, the main assault on Kazan began. By the name of the central church, the whole cathedral was named.

The prefix "on the Moat", found in chronicles about the cathedral, is due to the fact that a deep and wide defensive moat ran through the entire area, later called Red, along the Kremlin wall from the 14th century, which was filled up in 1813.

The cathedral had an unusual architectural composition - 9 independent temples were built on a single foundation - the basement - and interconnected by internal vaulted passages surrounding the central temple. Outside, all the churches were surrounded by the originally open gallery-ambulance. The central church ended with a high tent, the aisles were covered with vaults and crowned with domes.

The ensemble of the cathedral was complemented by a three-hipped open belfry, in the arched spans of which massive bells hung.

Initially, the Intercession Cathedral was crowned with 8 large domes and a small dome above the central church. To emphasize the importance building material, as well as to protect the cathedral from atmospheric influences, all its walls outside were painted in red and white. painting imitated brickwork. The material of the original covering of the domes remains unknown, as they were lost during the devastating fire of 1595.

In its original form, the cathedral existed until 1588. Then, from the northeast side, a tenth church was added to it over the grave of the holy fool Basil the Blessed, who spent a lot of time at the cathedral under construction and bequeathed to bury himself next to it. The famous Moscow miracle worker died in 1557, and after his canonization, the son of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, ordered the construction of a church. In architectural terms, it was an independent pillarless temple with a separate entrance.

The place of finding the relics of St. Basil the Blessed was marked with a silver shrine, which was subsequently lost during the Time of Troubles, at the beginning of the 17th century. Divine services in the church of the saint soon became daily, and starting from the 17th century, the name of the chapel was gradually transferred to the entire cathedral, becoming its "popular" name: St. Basil's Cathedral.

At the end of the 16th century, figured domes of the cathedral appeared - instead of the original burnt cover.

In 1672, an eleventh church was added to the cathedral from the southeast side: a small church over the grave of St. John the Blessed, a revered Moscow holy fool who was buried near the cathedral in 1589.

In the second half of the 17th century, significant changes took place in the external appearance of the cathedral. Wooden awnings above the abyss, now and then burned down in fires, they were replaced with a roof on arched brick pillars. Above the porch of the church of St. Basil the Blessed, the church of St. Theodosius the Virgin was added. Above the previously open white stone stairs leading to the upper tier of the cathedral, vaulted hipped porches appeared, arranged on the so-called "creeping" arches.

In the same period, polychrome ornamental painting appears. She covers the newly built porches supporting pillars, the outer walls of the galleries and the parapets of the promenades. The facades of churches retain at this time a painting that imitates brickwork.

In 1683, the entire cathedral along the upper cornice was surrounded by a tiled inscription. Large yellow letters on a dark blue background of glazed tiles told about the history of the creation of the temple and its renovation in the second half of the 17th century. The inscription was destroyed a century later during the next repair.

In the 1680s the belfry was rebuilt. On the site of an open structure, a two-tiered bell tower was erected with an open upper platform for ringing.

In 1737, during a grandiose fire, St. Basil's Cathedral was badly damaged, especially its southern church.

Cardinal changes in its program of murals occurred during repairs in the 1770s-1780s. The altars of wooden churches demolished to prevent fires from Red Square were transferred to the territory of the cathedral and under its vaults. At the same time, the throne of the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople was renamed in the name of John the Merciful, and the church of Cyprian and Justina began to bear the name of Saints Adrian and Natalia (the original dedications to the churches were returned in the 1920s).

The inside of the church was painted with oil painting depicting saints and hagiographic scenes. Oil painting was updated in 1845-1848. and in late XIX century. Outside, the walls were covered with paintings that imitated masonry from large boulders - "wild stone". The arches of the basement (lower non-residential tier) were laid, in the western part of which housing was placed for the clergy (temple servants). The bell tower was combined with an extension to the cathedral building. The upper part of the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed (the Church of Theodosius the Virgin) was rebuilt into a sacristy - a repository of church valuables and shrines.

In 1812, an order was given to the French gunners to blow up the cathedral. However, it was only plundered by Napoleon's troops, but immediately after the war it was repaired and consecrated. The area around the cathedral was landscaped and surrounded by an openwork cast-iron grate, designed by the famous architect O. Beauvais.

At the end of the 19th century, for the first time, the task arose of returning the cathedral to its original appearance. The specially created Commission for the restoration of the monument included well-known architects, scientists and painters, who determined the main directions for the study and restoration of the Intercession Cathedral. However, the lack of funds, the October Revolution and the subsequent period of devastation in the history of Russia did not allow the implementation of the planned program.

In 1918, the Intercession Cathedral was one of the first to be taken under protection by the state as a monument of national and world significance. Since May 21, 1923, it has been open to visitors as a historical and architectural museum. At the same time, until 1929, divine services were held in the church of St. Basil the Blessed.

In 1928, the Pokrovsky Cathedral became a branch of the State Historical Museum and remains so to this day.

In the 1920s extensive scientific and restoration work was launched on the monument, thanks to which it became possible to restore the original appearance of the cathedral and recreate the interiors of the 16th-17th centuries in individual churches.

From that moment to the present, four global restorations have been carried out, including architectural and painting works. The original "brick-like" painting of the 16th century was restored on the outside, in the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God and in the Church of Alexander Svirsky.

In the 1950s-1960s. unique restoration work was carried out: in the interior of the central church, a "church chronicle" was opened, in which ancient architects indicated the exact date of completion of the construction of the cathedral - July 12, 1561 (the day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Peter and Paul); for the first time, the iron coverings of the domes were replaced with copper ones. Good choice material contributed to the fact that until now the coatings of the domes remain unscathed.

In the interiors of four churches, iconostases have been reconstructed, almost entirely consisting of icons of the 16th-17th centuries, among which there are genuine masterpieces of the ancient Russian school of icon painting ("Trinity" of the 16th century). The pride of the collection are the icons of the XVI-XVII centuries. "The Vision of Sexton Tarasius", "Nikola Velikoretsky in Life", "Alexander Nevsky in Life", as well as icons from the original iconostasis of the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos "Basil the Great" and "John Chrysostom". In other churches, iconostases of the 18th and 19th centuries have been preserved. Among them, two iconostasis were moved in the 1770s. from the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin (altar barriers in the Church of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and in the central church).

In the 1970s a fresco of the 17th century was discovered on the outer bypass gallery under late records. The found painting served as the basis for the reconstruction of the original ornamental painting on the facades of the cathedral.

The year 1990 was an important milestone in the history of the museum: the Pokrovsky Cathedral was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in Russia. After a long break in the Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, divine services were resumed. The following year, the cathedral was approved for joint use by the State Historical Museum and the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1997, the restoration of the interior, monumental and easel painting was completed in St. Basil's Church, closed since the late 1920s. The church was included in the exposition of the Pokrovsky Cathedral, and divine services were resumed in it.

In the Pokrovsky Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church divine services are held: on the days of the main thrones (Protection and St. Basil the Blessed), patriarchal or sovereign services are held. At the shrine of St. Basil the Blessed, an akathist is read every Sunday.

In 2001-2011 seven churches of the cathedral were completely restored, facade paintings were renewed, and partly tempera painting of the inner gallery. In 2007, the Pokrovsky Cathedral became a nominee for the Seven Wonders of Russia competition.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The main cathedral on Red Square - St. Basil's Cathedral - is a world-famous monument of Russian church architecture. Included in the register of world-class cultural heritage sites under the auspices of UNESCO. Its other name is Pokrovsky Cathedral.

Another one is located on the corner of Nikolskaya Street, near the Mint. This temple has its own history. Moscow's cathedrals on Red Square were built at different times, and each of them is interesting and famous in its own way.

Many Muscovites and guests of the capital believe that there are not two cathedrals on Red Square, but much more. This opinion is erroneous, since other masterpieces of Russian temple architecture, although they are visible from Red Square, are located behind the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. Thus, the answer to the question of how many cathedrals are on Red Square is unequivocal.

The center of Moscow is distinguished by an abundance of architectural monuments.

Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, the photo of which is presented in this article, is located opposite the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, at the beginning of Vasilyevsky Spusk. Nearby is the bronze memorial of Minin and Pozharsky, erected in 1818.

The Cathedral of the Intercession on Red Square is the most grandiose group of tourists and individual visitors spend hours walking through the galleries. And if you ask a Japanese, a Frenchman or a Dane about which cathedral on Red Square they liked more, they will not hesitate to name the Cathedral of the Intercession. Muscovites will say the same.

Intercession Cathedral on Red Square is an unsurpassed masterpiece of temple architecture of the mid-16th century, built in honor of the great event that took place in Russia in October 1552 - the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate. Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered to build such a church, "which cannot be similar." This "church" was the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, which was built in six years, from 1555 to 1561. Later, several additions of a cult nature were made.

Structure

The architects Barma and Postnik created a design for the cathedral, which consisted of a central pillar and eight aisles, which they placed on the cardinal points, in accordance with the canons of church construction of that time:

The central pillar is the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos.
To the east is the chapel of the Holy Trinity.
To the west - the chapel "Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem".
To the north-west is the chapel of "Gregory the Catholicos of Armenia".
To the south-east - the chapel of "Svirsky Alexander".
To the south-west - the chapel of "Varlaam Khutynsky".
To the northeast is the chapel of "John the Merciful".
To the south - the chapel of "Nicholas the Wonderworker".
To the north - the chapel of "Cyprian and Ustinya".

There are no cellars in the cathedral, the foundation is a fundamental basement, the vaults of which are based on brick walls three meters thick. Until 1595, the basement of the Intercession Cathedral was used to store the royal treasury. In addition to gold, the most valuable icons were placed in the vaults.

The second floor of the temple is directly all the aisles and the central pillar of the Intercession of the Mother of God, surrounded by a gallery from which you can get through the arched entrances to all rooms, as well as go from one church to another.

Church of Svirsky Alexander

The chapel of the south-eastern direction was consecrated in the name of St. Alexander Svirsky. On the day of his memory, in 1552, one of the decisive battles of the Kazan campaign took place - the defeat of the cavalry of Prince Khan Yapanchi.

The Church of Alexander Svirsky is one of the four small aisles, consisting of a lower quadrangle with an octagon and a drum with windows. The aisle is crowned with a dome with a cross.

Church of Varlaam Khutynsky

The Church of Varlaam Khutynsky, Reverend, was consecrated in his name. The chetverik at the base passes into a low octagon and further into the domed top. The apse of the church is shifted towards the Royal Gates. The interior decoration includes a table iconostasis with icons of the 16th century, among which the Novgorod icon "Vision of Tarasius, sexton" stands out.

Church "The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem"

The chapel of the western direction was consecrated in honor of the holiday "Entrance to Jerusalem". A large church in the form of a two-tiered octagonal pillar, the transition from the third tier to the drum is carried out with the help of an intermediate belt of kokoshniks arranged "in a row".

The interior decoration has a rich decorative character, not devoid of solemnity. The iconostasis was inherited from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, formerly located in the Moscow Kremlin. The four-tiered table construction is decorated with gilded overlays and carved rosewood details. The bottom row of icons tells about the Creation of the world.

Church of Gregory, Kotalikos of Armenia

The chapel, facing the northwest, was consecrated in the name of the Enlightener of Armenia. A small church, a quadrangle with a transition to a low octagon with three tiers of kokoshniks "in rush", taken from the cross-domed style of cubic temples of the second half of the 15th century. The dome is of a peculiar shape, diamond-shaped protrusions are constricted by a "net" of dark green stripes.

The iconostasis is varied, in the bottom row there are velvet shrouds and the crosses of Golgotha are depicted on them. The interior of the church is full of "skinny" candles - wooden candlesticks, into which thin ones were inserted. On the walls there are showcases with vestments for priests, phelonions and surplices, embroidered with gold. In the center is a candilo decorated with enamel.

Church of Cyprian and Ustinya

Large church facing north. On the day of memory of Cyprian and Ustinya, the tsarist army stormed Kazan. The octagonal pillar with pediments passes through the tier of kokoshniks into a faceted drum. The dome, composed of vertical lobes of blue and white color, tops the pillar. The interior of the church consists of a carved iconostasis and numerous wall paintings with scenes from the lives of the saints.

The church has been restored many times, the last update dates back to 2007, financial support came from JSC " Railways Russia".

Chapel of Nikola Velikoretsky

The chapel, facing south, was consecrated in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker, named Velikoretsky in honor of the icon found in Khlynov on the Velikaya River. The church is a two-tier octagonal pillar with pediments, turning into a row of kokoshniks. An octahedron rises above the kokoshniks, crowned with a head with Orthodox cross. painted, bears wavy stripes of red and white.

Church of the Holy Trinity

Another large chapel of the Intercession Cathedral, facing east, was consecrated in the name of the Great Trinity. The two-tiered octagonal pillar, framed by pointed pediments on the lower tier, surrounded by kokoshniks in the middle part and crowned with an octagon with a dome, is the most colorful in the entire composition of St. Basil's Cathedral.

Chapel "Three Patriarchs"

The side-chapel facing east was consecrated in honor of the three patriarchs of Constantinople: John, Paul and Alexander. It is distinguished by a large five-tier baroque-type iconostasis, with icons of the local row, deesis, hagiography with hallmarks. The interior was renovated in 2007.

Basil the Blessed

In 1588, the cathedral on Red Square was completed from the northeast side. A chapel was added to the pillar of "Gregory of Armenia" in honor of St. Basil the Blessed, who died in 1552, whose remains were buried just at the construction site of the cathedral.

Intercession Cathedral on Red Square, in addition to its architectural and historical value, also has sacred features in terms of cult burials. In 1589, John of Moscow was buried in the basement of the cathedral. In 1672, the relics of St. John the Blessed, the miracle worker of Moscow, were buried in the Intercession Cathedral.

Kazan Cathedral on Red Square

In 1625, a wooden Temple of the Kazan Mother of God was built on Nikolskaya Street at the expense of the Moscow Prince Pozharsky. Nine years later, the Kazan Church burned down and a stone Kazan Cathedral was erected in its place. This time, the construction of the temple was paid for by the king, and the new building was consecrated in 1636 by Patriarch Joasaph the First.

During the Stalinist reconstruction of Manezhnaya Square, the cathedral was demolished in 1936. The Church of the Kazan Mother of God was recreated in the early nineties, at the initiative of the Moscow Society for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Currently, the Kazan Cathedral, located on Red Square, is one of the most notable masterpieces of Moscow temple architecture.

The famous colorful Church of the Intercession on the Moat, one of the main attractions of Moscow, was erected in 1555-1561 to commemorate the capture of Kazan by Russian troops in 1552. It was consecrated in honor of the Feast of the Intercession because the attack of Russian troops on Kazan began on that very day. We are accustomed to perceive the cathedral as a single one, but in fact it consists of ten independent temples. Hence such a bizarre, unique appearance of the entire cathedral, or, better, the temple complex.

Initially, there were nine temples, and the central one was dedicated to the Protection of the Virgin, and the remaining eight were dedicated to a certain holiday or saint, on whose day this or that memorable event related to the siege of Kazan took place. In 1588, a church was added to the complex over the burial place of the famous Moscow Blessed Basil, and now it is the only one that has the right to be called, in the strict sense of the word, the Church of St. Basil the Blessed.

So, we will talk about the Pokrovsky multi-church cathedral, as it was erected in 1555-1561. In many books, and in our time, you can read that its construction was carried out under the supervision of two masters - Barma and Posnik. There are, however, versions that the construction was led by unknown Italian masters. But it has no documentary evidence and no argument, except unusual look cathedral. N.M. Karamzin rashly called the style of the Intercession Cathedral "Gothic", but this is absolutely wrong from an art history point of view, and only the authority of the "first Russian historiographer" allows some to still insist on the foreign authorship of the original St. Basil's Cathedral.
Where did the opinion come from that the construction was led by two masters?

In 1896, priest Ivan Kuznetsov published an excerpt from a handwritten collection that was then kept in the Rumyantsev Museum. This collection was compiled no earlier than the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century. It contains the "Legend of the transfer of the miraculous image of Nicholas the Wonderworker", which was a royal gift to the Intercession Cathedral. This late legend says that shortly after the capture of Kazan, Tsar Ivan the Terrible erected seven wooden churches around the larger, eighth, stone one, near the Frolovsky Gates (i.e., from the 17th century, the gates of the Spassky Tower of the Kremlin). “And then God gave him two Russian masters, nicknamed Barma and Postnik, who were wise and fit for such a wonderful deed.” This information about the "two masters" was accepted by most historians on faith.

But the legend, rethinking the old tradition, was not a chronicle text. In addition, we recall that the expression "nickname" in the then Russian language, as now, meant only the nickname of a person, and not his own name. Barma could be called skilled craftsman, since barmas are mantles on the clothes of kings and spiritual dignitaries, richly and variously decorated and requiring skillful and careful execution. Posnik, or Postnik, is a proper name. Therefore, it is not logical that in the "Tale" the first master is named only by a nickname without a name, and the second - only by a name without a nickname.

The text from the Russian Chronicler from the beginning of the Russian land to the accession to the throne of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, written in the first half of the 17th century, that is, much closer to the event of interest to us, can be considered more reliable. We read in it: “In the same year, by order of the Tsar and Sovereign and Grand Duke Ivan, a church was started, promised for the capture of Kazan in honor of the Trinity and the Intercession ..., and Barma and his comrades were the master.” Only one architect is named here, but, obviously, not due to ignorance of the name of the second master (Posnik), but because it was one and the same person.

Subsequently, another source was found, indicating that the names Posnik and Barma really refer to one, and not to two persons. It follows from it that the manuscript of the Sudebnik of 1550 belonged until 1633 to the monastery lawyer, the Moscow servant Druzhina. The squad was the son of Tarutia and the grandson of Posnik, who had the nickname Barma. The matter seems quite clear: two mythical masters, one of whom was called Barma, and the other - Posnik, are combined into one historical person - Posnik (this, of course, is not a baptismal name, but something like a modern surname) nicknamed Barma, which meant that this a man skilled in crafts.

Moreover, the architect Postnik of that time is known for the buildings of a number of buildings, namely: the Kazan Kremlin, Nikolsky and Assumption Cathedrals in Sviyazhsk. However, this fact, brilliantly proven back in 1957 by the Russian archaeologist N.F. Kalinin, are still overlooked by many historians and art critics, who, out of habit, talk about Barma and Postnik as the two builders of the Intercession Cathedral.