Temples on Red Square. Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, on the Moat (St. Basil's Cathedral). Foundation of the museum in the 19th–20th centuries

Moscow has a huge number of sights and monuments of antiquity. The oldest and most beautiful of which - St Basil's Church. He is truly a symbol of all of Russia.

This article will focus on one of the sights of Moscow, which is located on Red Square.

History of occurrence

The correct name of this building is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. But because of the church, which is part of the Cathedral complex and named after the blessed one, they began to call him Basil's Cathedral.

In ancient times, when Russia was ruled by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, wooden churches were erected on Red Square (then called Trinity Square) as a sign of victory over enemies. By 1552 there were a lot of churches. It so happened that it was on the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God that Russian soldiers took the Kazan fortress. And then Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered the wooden churches to be united into one stone temple. The temple was named Intercession Cathedral.

The construction of the Cathedral ended in 1561. By 1722, there were 18 churches on the territory of the Cathedral, including St. Basil's Church. But in 1737, the Cathedral and most of the churches were almost completely burned out during a strong fire. The cathedral was quickly restored, after which it was built and rebuilt many times.

The temple got its name in honor of the local holy fool. He walked with chains on his naked body at any time of the year. It was a kind of punishment for human sins. The local population considered St. Basil the Blessed to be a miracle worker and clairvoyant. After all, once he accurately predicted a fire that destroyed half of Moscow. And even Tsar Ivan the Terrible revered the holy fool and was a little afraid of him.

Died Basil the Blessed in August 1557 at the age of 82. An interesting fact is that the whole city gathered for the funeral, and the king himself with the princes carried the coffin with the body of the blessed to the church. He was buried near the unfinished church. After 30 years, a building was erected over his grave. In it he set up an altar with a throne for worship. The extension was given the name of the Blessed, and later a church was erected here, and the relics of the blessed were placed here.

Description of the Temple

The Orthodox Temple of incredible beauty is especially popular with tourists. It looks like a fairytale palace. Initially, it was white, then, after each restoration, they began to decorate it with bright colors. But the most colorful were the domes. The temple is unique in that on all 10 domes the drawings are different, there is not a single dome similar to another.

St. Basil's Cathedral - the history of creation

The height of the Temple is 65m.
The uniqueness lies in the fact that neither the Cathedral nor the churches have cellars. They are on the basement.

The modern Cathedral houses 10 separate churches, including Basil's Church. Each church has the name of a saint after whom it is named. The central tower is named after the holiday - the Protection of the Mother of God.

Inside the church is painted with unique images of saints and scenes from their lives. In the temple, you can see rare icons combined with frescoes from the 16th century and paintings from the 17th century.

But despite the fires and wars that took place during this time, the Temple managed to survive and avoid complete destruction.

Divine services are held in the modern Cathedral every year on the feast of the Protection of the Day.

Now the Cathedral houses a branch of the State Historical Museum. The museum has an amazing collection of bells cast between 1547 and 1996, as well as a collection of weapons from Russian soldiers.

1. Why was the Intercession Cathedral built on Red Square
2. Who built the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square
3. Postnik and Barma
4.Architecture of the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square
5. Why is the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square called St. Basil's Cathedral
6. Basil the Blessed
7.Cultural layer at the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square
8. Bell tower and bells
9.Additional information about bells and ringing
10. Intercession Cathedral on Red Square. Facade icons
11. Heads of the Intercession Cathedral

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat or, as it is more commonly called, is a unique monument of ancient Russian architecture. For a long time, it has served as a symbol not only of Moscow, but of the entire Russian state. Since 1923, the cathedral has been a branch of the Historical Museum. It was taken under state protection in 1918, and services in it ceased in 1928. However, in the 1990s of the last century, divine services resumed and are held every week in St. Basil's Church, and on patronal feasts in other churches of the cathedral. Services are held on Saturdays and Sundays. Sunday services are held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Sundays and on religious holidays, excursions to St. Basil's Church are not conducted.

Why was the Intercession Cathedral built on Red Square

The cathedral was erected in honor of the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. The victory over Kazan was perceived at that time as the final victory over the Golden Horde. Going on a Kazan campaign, Ivan the Terrible made a vow: in case of victory, to build a temple in her honor. The construction of temples in honor of the most important events and military victories was an old Russian tradition. At that time, sculptural monuments, columns, obelisks were unknown in Rus'. However, commemorative temples have been erected since ancient times in honor of important state events: the birth of an heir to the throne or a military victory. The victory over Kazan was marked by the construction of a memorial church, consecrated in the name of the Intercession. October 1, 1552 began a decisive assault on Kazan. This event coincided with the celebration of a great church holiday - the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. The central church of the cathedral was consecrated in the name of the Intercession of the Virgin, which gave the name to the entire cathedral. The first and main consecration of the temple is the votive church. His second dedication is the capture of Kazan.

Who built the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square

The construction of the memorial church was blessed by Metropolitan Macarius. Perhaps he is the author of the idea of ​​the temple, because Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible at that time was still very young. But it is categorically impossible to assert this, since very few written sources have come down to us.

In Rus', it often happened that, having erected a temple, they wrote down the name of the temple builder (king, metropolitan, noble person) in the annals, and forgot the names of the builders. For a long time it was believed that the Intercession Cathedral was erected by the Italians. But at the end of the 19th century, a chronicle was discovered, from which the true names of the builders of the cathedral became known. The chronicle reads as follows: “Pious Tsar John, having come from the victory of Kazan to the reigning city of Moscow, soon put stone churches near the Frolovsky Gate above the moat(Frolovsky - now the Spassky Gate) and then God gave him two masters of Russian advertising(i.e. by name) Fasting and Barma and higher wisdom and more convenient for such a wonderful deed ".

Postnik and Barma

The names of the architects Postnik and Barma appear in the sources telling about the cathedral only at the end of the 19th century. The oldest source that tells about the Church of the Intercession on the Moat is the Power Book of the Royal Genealogy, written under the guidance of Metropolitan Athanasius in 1560-63. It tells about the votive construction of the Intercession Cathedral. No less important is the Front Chronicle. It tells about the laying of the cathedral, its construction and consecration. The most important, most detailed historical source is the life of Metropolitan Jonah. The life was created in the 1560-1580s. This is the only source where the names of Postnik and Barma are mentioned.
So, the official version for today sounds like this:
Church of the Intercession, which was erected on the Moat by Russian architects Barma and Postnik. According to the unofficial version, this cathedral was built by foreigners, and of unknown origin. If the Italians were mentioned earlier, now this version is highly questioned. Without a doubt, when starting the construction of the cathedral, Ivan the Terrible called on experienced architects. In the 16th century, many foreigners worked in Moscow. Perhaps Barma and Postnik studied with the same Italian masters.

Intercession Cathedral on Red Square. Architecture

Intercession Cathedral is not one huge church, as it might seem at first glance, but several completely independent churches. It consists of nine temples on a single foundation.

Heads of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin, which is on the moat

A tented church rises in the center. Tent temples in Rus' are considered to be those that have not vaulted, but pyramidal completion. Around the central hipped church there are eight small churches with large beautiful domes.

It was from this cathedral that the ensemble of Red Square began to take shape, to which we are accustomed now. The tops of the Kremlin towers were built on in the 17th century, they were built with an eye on the Pokrovsky Cathedral. The tent on the Tsarskaya tower-gazebo to the left of the Spasskaya Tower repeats the hipped porch of the cathedral.

Southern porch of the Intercession Cathedral with a tent
The Tsarskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin is located opposite the Pokrovsky Cathedral

Eight churches surround the central hipped temple. Four churches are large and four are small.

Church of the Holy Trinity - Eastern. Church of Alexander Svirsky - southeast. Church of St. Nikola Velikoretsky - southern .. Church of Varlaam Khutynsky - southwestern. Church of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem - Western. Church of St. Gregory of Armenia - northwestern. Church of Cyprian and Justina - north.
St. Basil's Church, behind it - the Church of the Three Patriarchs of Constantinople - northeast.

Four large churches are oriented to the cardinal points. The northern temple overlooks Red Square, the southern one overlooks the Moskva River, the western one overlooks the Kremlin. Most of the churches were dedicated to church holidays, the days of which fell on the most important events of the Kazan campaign.
The service in eight side churches was only once a year - on the day of the patronal feast. In the central church, they served from Trinity Day until its patronal feast - October 1.
Since the Kazan campaign fell in the summer, all church holidays also fell in the summer. All churches of the Intercession Cathedral were built as summer, cold. In winter, they were not heated and services were not conducted in them.

Today the cathedral has the appearance that it had in the XVI-XVII centuries.
Initially, the cathedral was surrounded by an open gallery. Around all eight churches on the second floor there is a belt of windows.

In ancient times, the gallery was open, there were no ceilings above it, open staircases led upstairs. Ceilings and porches above the stairs were erected later. The cathedral looked and was perceived completely differently than we perceive it today. If now it seems like a huge multi-domed church of an incomprehensible design, then in ancient times this feeling did not arise. It could be seen that on an elegant light foundation there were nine churches looking up.

Height at that time was associated with beauty. It was believed that the higher the temple, the more beautiful it is. Height was a symbol of greatness, and in those days the Intercession Cathedral was visible 15 miles from Moscow. Until 1600, when the bell tower of Ivan the Great was built in the Kremlin, the cathedral was the tallest building in the city, and indeed in all of Muscovy. Up until the beginning of the 17th century, it served as a town-planning dominant, i.e. the highest point in Moscow.
All churches of the cathedral ensemble are united by two bypass galleries: external and internal. Overlappings over the open space and porches were made in the 17th century, because in our conditions it turned out to be an unaffordable luxury to have open galleries and porches. In the 19th century, the gallery was glazed.
In the same 17th century, a hipped bell tower was built on the site of the belfry to the southeast of the temple.

The hipped bell tower of the Pokrovsky Cathedral

The outer walls of the cathedral are restored about once every 20 years, and the interiors - once every 10 years. Icons are inspected every year, since our climate is harsh and icons are not immune from swelling and other damage to the paint layer.

Why is the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square called St. Basil's Cathedral

Recall that the cathedral consists of nine churches on a single foundation. However, ten multi-colored domes rise above the temple, not counting the bulb above the bell tower. The tenth green dome with red spikes is below the level of the domes of all other churches and crowns the northeast corner of the temple.

Head of Saint Basil's Church

This church was added to the cathedral after construction was completed. She was erected over the grave of a very famous and revered holy fool of that time, St. Basil the Blessed.

Basil the Blessed

This man was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible, he lived in Moscow, there were many legends about him. (The miracles of St. Basil are described in the article) From the current point of view, the holy fool is something like a madman, which, in fact, is absolutely wrong. In the Middle Ages in Rus', foolishness was one of the forms of asceticism. Basil the Blessed was not a holy fool from birth, he is a holy fool for Christ's sake, who became one quite consciously. At the age of 16, he decided to devote his life to God. It was possible to serve the Lord in different ways: go to a monastery, become a hermit, and Vasily decided to become a holy fool. Moreover, he chose the feat of a hunter, i.e. he went without clothes both in winter and summer, lived on the street, on the porch, ate alms and spoke incomprehensible speeches. But Vasily was not crazy, and if he wanted to be understood, he spoke intelligibly and people understood him.

Despite such harsh living conditions, St. Basil the Blessed lived a very long life even in modern times and lived to be 88 years old. They buried him next to the cathedral. Burial near the temple was commonplace. At that time, according to the Orthodox tradition, each temple had a cemetery. In Rus', holy fools have always been revered both during their lifetime and after death, and they were buried closer to the church.

After the death of Basil the Blessed, he was canonized as a saint. Like a saint, a church was erected over his grave in 1588. It so happened that this church turned out to be the only winter one in the whole cathedral, i.e. only in this temple services were held every day all year round. Therefore, the name of this small church, built almost 30 years later than the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat itself, was transferred to the entire Intercession Cathedral. It began to be called St. Basil's Cathedral.

Cultural layer at the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square

An interesting detail can be seen from the eastern side of the temple. There grows rowan in ... a pot.

They planted a tree, as expected, in the ground, and not in a pot. Over the years, a cultural layer of considerable thickness has formed around the cathedral. Intercession Cathedral, as it were, "rooted into the ground." In 2005, it was decided to return the temple to its original proportions. For this, the “extra” soil was removed and taken out. And by that time, mountain ash had already been growing here for more than a dozen years. In order not to destroy the tree, a wooden case was made around it.

Belfry and bells

Since 1990, the cathedral has been in the joint use of the state and the Russian Orthodox Church. The building of the Intercession Cathedral belongs to the state, since its funding comes from the state budget.

The bell tower of the temple was built on the site of the dismantled belfry.

The cathedral bell tower is active. Museum staff call themselves, they were trained by one of the leading bell ringers in Russia, Konovalov. Museum workers themselves provide accompaniment of the church service by ringing bells. Ringing the bells must be a specialist. Museum workers do not trust the collection of bells of the Intercession Cathedral to anyone.

Fragment of the bell tower of the Intercession Cathedral

A person who does not know how to ring, even a fragile woman, can send the tongue incorrectly and split the bell.

More information about bells and chimes

The ancient cathedral belfry was three-tiered, three-span and three-roofed. Bells hung in each span on each tier. There were several ringers and they were all downstairs. The ringing system was ochepnaya or ochepnaya. The bell was tightly fastened to the beam and they rang it, swinging not the tongue, but the bell itself.

The bells of the Intercession Cathedral were not undermined to a certain sound, they had only three main tones - one tone at the bottom of the skirt, the second - in the middle of the skirt, the third - at the top, and there were also dozens of overtones. It is simply impossible to play a melody on Russian bells. Our ringing is rhythmic, not melodic.

For the training of bell ringers, there were characteristic rhythmic chants. For Moscow: "All monks are thieves, all monks are thieves, and the abbot is a rogue, and the abbot is a rogue." For Arkhangelsk: "Why tres-ka, why tres-ka, two kopecks and a half, two kopecks and a half." In Suzdal: "They baked with golyaks, they baked with golyaks." Each locality had its own rhythm.

Until recently, the heaviest bell in Russia was the Rostov bell "Sysoy" weighing 2000 pounds. In 2000, the "Big Assumption" bell spoke in the Moscow Kremlin. It has its own history, each sovereign cast his own Great Assumption, often pouring over the one that existed before him. Modern weighs 4000 pounds.

When the bells ring in the Kremlin, both the bell tower and the belfry ring. Ringers are at different levels and do not hear each other. On the steps of the Assumption Cathedral stands the main bell-ringer of all Rus' and claps his hands. All the ringers see him, he beats the rhythm to them, as if conducting the bells.
Listening to Russian bells for foreigners was a martyr's torment. Our ringing was not always rhythmic, often chaotic, the bell ringers did not fall well into the rhythm. Foreigners suffered from this - they called everywhere, their heads were splitting from an unrhythmic cacophonous ringing. Foreigners liked the western ringing more, when the bell itself was swayed.

Intercession Cathedral on Red Square. Facade icons

On the eastern outer wall of the Intercession Cathedral there is a facade icon of the Mother of God. This is the very first facade icon that appeared here in the 17th century. Unfortunately, almost nothing remains of the 17th-century letter due to fires and multiple renovations. The icon is called the Intercession with the upcoming Basil and John the Blessed. It is written on the wall of the temple.

Intercession Cathedral belongs to the Mother of God churches. All the local facade icons were painted especially for this cathedral. The icon, which had been located on the south side of the bell tower since the moment of writing, fell into a terrible state by the end of the 20th century. The south side is most exposed to the damaging effects of the sun, rain, wind and temperature changes. In the 90s, the image was removed for restoration and restored with great difficulty.
After the restoration work, the salary of the icon did not fit in its original place. Instead of a salary, they made a protective box and hung the icon in its original place. But due to the large temperature fluctuations characteristic of our climate, the icon began to collapse again. After 10 years, it had to be restored again. Now the icon is in the Church of the Intercession. And for the south side of the bell tower they wrote a copy right on the wall.

Icon on the bell tower of the Intercession Cathedral

The copy was consecrated when the 450th anniversary of the cathedral was celebrated, on Intercession Day in 2012.

Domes of the Intercession Cathedral

The tops of churches that we call domes are actually called heads. The dome is the roof of the church. It can be seen from inside the temple. Above the domed vault there is a crate on which the metal sheathing is fixed.

According to one version, in the old days at the Intercession Cathedral the domes were not onion-shaped, as they are now, but helmet-shaped. Other researchers argue that on such thin drums as those of St. Basil's Cathedral, helmet-shaped domes could not have been. Therefore, based on the architecture of the cathedral, the domes were onion, although this is not known for certain. But it is absolutely certain that the chapters were originally smooth and monochrome. In the 17th century, they were briefly painted in different colors.

The heads were covered with iron, painted blue or green. Such iron, if there were no fires, withstood 10 years. Green or blue paints were obtained on the basis of copper oxides. If the heads were covered with German tinned iron, then they could be silvery. German iron lived for 20 years, but no more.

In the 17th century, in the life of Metropolitan Jonah, “figured domes of various designs” are mentioned. However, they were all monochrome. They have become variegated since the 19th century, maybe a little earlier, but there is no confirmation of this. Why the domes are multi-colored and of different shapes, according to what principle they were painted, now no one can say, this is one of the mysteries of the cathedral.

In the 60s of the 20th century, during a large-scale restoration, they wanted to return the cathedral to its original appearance and make the domes monochrome, but the Kremlin officials ordered that they be left in color. The cathedral is recognizable, first of all, by its polychrome domes.

During the war, Red Square was guarded by a continuous field of balloons to protect it from bombing. When anti-aircraft shells exploded, the fragments, falling down, spoiled the skin of the heads. Damaged domes were immediately repaired, because if holes were left, a strong wind could completely “undress” the dome in 20 minutes.

In 1969, the domes were covered with copper. 32 tons of sheet copper 1 mm thick went to the heads. During a recent restoration, the domes were found to be in perfect condition. They just had to be repainted. The central dome on the Church of the Intercession has always been gilded.

Each chapter, even the central one, can be entered. A special staircase leads to the central chapter. The side chapters can be entered through external hatches. Between the ceiling and the crate there is a space as high as a person, where you can walk freely.
Differences in the sizes and colors of the domes, the principles of their decoration are not yet amenable to historical analysis.

We will continue our acquaintance with the Intercession Cathedral inside the temple,.





The article was compiled on the basis of a lecture given by a methodologist of the State Historical Museum in February 2014.

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, soon 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 Moskva River, a wooden church in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity with seven aisles was laid on a hill.

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 the warm season. 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 significance of the building material, as well as to protect the cathedral from atmospheric influences, all its walls were painted in red and white colors from the outside. The 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 appearance of the cathedral. The wooden sheds over the grove, which burned down every now and then in fires, 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. It 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 at the end of the 19th 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-built 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. The successful choice of 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.

Divine services are held in the Pokrovsky Cathedral by the Russian Orthodox Church: on the days of the main thrones (Intercession 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 Intercession Cathedral became a nominee for the "Seven Wonders of Russia" competition.

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

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 in triumph to Moscow, Ivan the Terrible decided to put one large, stone church on the site of the eight wooden churches 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 is a complete list of all eleven thrones that existed in the cathedral until 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: earlier, the traditional material for churches was 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 domes of 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 16th 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 carried out, 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 only 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 even the first attempt at scientific research was 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 of the Most Holy Theotokos. 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