What you need to know about St. Basil's Cathedral. History of the Intercession Cathedral (St. Basil's Cathedral). Help Cultural layer near the Intercession Cathedral on Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral (Russia) - description, history, location. Exact address and website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

• Last minute tours in Russia
• Tours for the New Year Worldwide

Previous photo Next photo

The unusually beautiful St. Basil's Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the Moat, flaunting on Red Square, is one of the most famous architectural monuments of Moscow. At the sight of a multi-colored temple, the tops of which are one more beautiful than the other, foreigners gasp in admiration and grab their cameras, but compatriots proudly declare: yes, that’s what it is - majestic, elegant, standing even in the difficult Soviet times for all churches.

There is even a historical story regarding the last fact. Allegedly, when presenting a project for the reconstruction of Red Square to Stalin, Kaganovich swept away the model of the temple from the diagram, making way for demonstrations of workers, to which the Secretary General sternly replied: “Lazarus, put it in its place.” Whether it was so or not, the temple was one of the few that survived and was constantly restored throughout the second half of the 20th century.

History and modernity

The Intercession Cathedral was built in 1565-1561. by decree of Ivan the Terrible, who vowed to build a church in memory of this event in the event of the successful capture of Kazan. The temple consists of nine churches on one foundation and a bell tower. At first glance, it can be difficult to understand the structure of the temple, but once you imagine that you are looking at it from above (or actually look at the temple from this angle on our live map), everything immediately becomes clear. The main pillar-shaped church in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God with a tent topped with a small dome is surrounded on four sides by axial churches, between which four more smaller ones are built. The tented bell tower was built later, in the 1670s.

Today the cathedral is both a temple and a branch of the Historical Museum at the same time. In 1990, services were resumed. Architecture, external decorative decoration, monumental painting, frescoes, rare monuments of Russian icon painting - all this makes the cathedral unique in its beauty and significance as a temple in Russia. In 2011, the cathedral turned 450 years old, anniversary events were held throughout the summer, chapels that were previously inaccessible to visitors were opened for the memorable date, and a new exhibition was arranged.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Information

Address: Red Square, 2.

Opening hours: excursions are held daily from 11:00 - 16:00.

Entrance: 250 RUB. Prices on the page are for October 2018.

The central church of the Cathedral is not accessible for inspection due to restoration work.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, which is on the moat, is the name of this temple on Red Square. But among the people it is more often called St. Basil's Cathedral. There are also those who remember the name Trinity Cathedral, which existed in the 16th century. This 65-meter-high temple closes the perspective of Bolshaya Dmitrovka. And before, before the construction of tall buildings in Moscow at the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, the cathedral was visible in the perspective of large areas of Pokrovka, Tverskaya, Myasnitskaya, Petrovka. It was rightly called the main temple of the Moscow suburb.

The cathedral was built in 1555-1561 next to the Kremlin fortress moat. You can say, on the edge of the ditch, hence its name - that on the ditch. The customer for the construction of the cathedral was Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The cathedral was built as a memory of the capture of the capital of the Kazan Khanate, the city of Kazan. The siege of Kazan began on August 15, 1552 and ended with an assault on the holiday of the Intercession. It was decided to build a cathedral with 9 thrones, or 9 churches, in honor of those holidays on which important moments of the siege and storming of the city occurred.

The central temple, completed with a tent, is the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. Around it are churches: from the east - the Trinity, the western temple - the Entrance to Jerusalem, St. Nicholas of Velikoretsky, Cyprian and Justina (later reconsecrated in the name of Adrian and Natalia), Paul, Alexander and John of Constantinople (later - John the Merciful), Alexander of Svirsky, Varlaam Khutynsky, Gregory of Armenian. Services in each of the churches were performed only on their patronal feast days. All churches, except the central one, Pokrovskaya, are completed with colored patterned onion domes. They appeared at the end of the 16th century instead of the old helmet-shaped domes. All churches stand on a high basement that unites them, like on a pedestal. All churches have circular passages around them. In the 16th century, the outer gallery around the churches was open, and the treatment of the walls at the gallery level in all churches took the form of a wide strip of arches and cornices, visually unifying the entire building. Today this wall treatment can be seen in the interior of the gallery, at the south-eastern corner of the cathedral. Due to Moscow climatic conditions, in the middle of the 17th century the gallery was covered with vaults, and stone tents were placed over the porches. At the same time, for the first time, bright decorative paintings appeared on the facades of the cathedral. A little earlier, in the 1670s, a tented bell tower was built instead of a belfry.

In 1588, a low single-domed church was added to the northwestern part of the gallery over the tomb of St. Basil the Blessed (1469 - 1552). Even during his lifetime, Vasily was famous as a holy fool and seer. During the funeral, Vasily’s coffin was carried by Ivan the Terrible himself with the boyars, and Metropolitan Macarius performed the funeral service. Over time, Vasily became one of the Moscow saints beloved by the people. Services in St. Basil's Church were performed daily, which is why the entire cathedral began to be called St. Basil's Cathedral.

At the beginning of the 18th century, there were already 18 thrones in the Intercession Cathedral. New altars were consecrated in the basement.

By the beginning of the 19th century, around the cathedral there were long shopping rows of small shops, taverns and taverns, separating it from Red Square. During the restoration of the city after the fire of 1812, it was decided to clear the area, and in 1817 the architect Osip Bove built a retaining wall from the west, south and east. The cathedral received a forged fence that has survived to this day.

It is believed that the cathedral was built by masters Barma and Postnik. Some researchers believe that it was one person, Postnik Yakovlev, nicknamed Barma. Other buildings by Postnik Yakovlev are also known, created by him after the construction of the cathedral. But none of them are similar to the Intercession Cathedral either in details or in technology. The architecture of the cathedral contains many architectural forms that could only be created by a person who worked and studied in Western Europe. But such a person is not yet known to us.

In 1923, it was decided to create a museum in the cathedral. Services in St. Basil's Church continued until 1929. The last rector of the cathedral, Fr. John Vostorgov was shot by court in 1918, and in 2000 he was canonized. Since 1991, the cathedral has been jointly used by the museum and the Orthodox Church.

Since 1931, in the fence of the cathedral there has been a monument to Minin and Pozharsky (1818, sculptor Ivan Martos). The monument was moved to the cathedral from the middle of Red Square, where it began to interfere with parades and mass demonstrations held twice a year, on May 1 and November 7.

In 1561, one of the most famous churches in Russia was consecrated - the Intercession Cathedral, or, as it is otherwise called, St. Basil's Cathedral. The portal "Culture.RF" recalled interesting facts from the history of its creation.

Temple-monument

The Intercession Cathedral is not just a church, but a temple-monument erected in honor of the annexation of the Kazan Khanate to the Russian state. The main battle, in which Russian troops were victorious, took place on the day of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And the temple was consecrated in honor of this Christian holiday. The cathedral consists of separate churches, each of which is also consecrated in honor of the holidays on which the decisive battles for Kazan took place - Trinity, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and others.

A huge construction project in record time

Initially, a wooden Trinity Church stood on the site of the cathedral. Temples were erected around it during the campaigns against Kazan - they celebrated the loud victories of the Russian army. When Kazan finally fell, Metropolitan Macarius suggested that Ivan the Terrible rebuild the architectural ensemble in stone. He wanted to surround the central temple with seven churches, but for the sake of symmetry the number was increased to eight. Thus, 9 independent churches and a belfry were built on one foundation; they were connected by vaulted passages. Outside, the churches were surrounded by an open gallery, which was called a walkway - it was a kind of church porch. Each temple was crowned with its own dome with a unique design and original drum decoration. The 65-meter-high structure, grandiose at the time, was built in just six years - from 1555 to 1561. Until 1600 it was the tallest building in Moscow.

Temple in honor of the soothsayer

Although the official name of the cathedral is the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, everyone knows it as St. Basil's Cathedral. According to legend, the famous Moscow miracle worker collected money for the construction of the temple, and then was buried near its walls. The holy fool St. Basil the Blessed walked the streets of Moscow barefoot, almost without clothes, almost all year, preaching mercy and help to others. There were also legends about his prophetic gift: they say he predicted the Moscow fire of 1547. The son of Ivan the Terrible, Fyodor Ioannovich, ordered the construction of a church dedicated to St. Basil the Blessed. It became part of the Intercession Cathedral. The church was the only temple that was always open - all year round, day and night. Later, by its name, parishioners began to call the cathedral St. Basil's Cathedral.

Louis Bichebois. Lithograph "St. Basil's Church"

Vitaly Grafov. Moscow wonderworker Blessed Basil. 2005

The royal treasury and lectern at Lobnoye Mesto

The cathedral has no basements. Instead, they built a common foundation - a vaulted basement without supporting pillars. It was ventilated through special narrow openings - vents. Initially, the premises were used as a warehouse - the royal treasury and the valuables of some wealthy Moscow families were kept there. Later, the narrow entrance to the basement was blocked - it was found only during the restoration of the 1930s.

Despite its colossal external dimensions, the Intercession Cathedral is quite small inside. Perhaps because it was originally built as a memorial monument. In winter, the cathedral was completely closed, as it was not heated. When services began to be held in the church, especially on major church holidays, very few people could fit inside. Then the lectern was moved to the Place of Execution, and the cathedral seemed to serve as a huge altar.

Russian architect or European master

It is still not known for certain who built St. Basil's Cathedral. Researchers have several options. One of them, the cathedral, was erected by the ancient Russian architects Postnik Yakovlev and Ivan Barma. According to another version, Yakovlev and Barma were actually one person. The third option says that the author of the cathedral was a foreign architect. After all, the composition of St. Basil's Cathedral has no analogues in ancient Russian architecture, but prototypes of the building can be found in Western European art.

Whoever the architect was, there are sad legends about his future fate. According to them, when Ivan the Terrible saw the temple, he was struck by its beauty and ordered the architect to be blinded so that he would never repeat his majestic construction anywhere. Another legend says that the foreign builder was executed altogether - for the same reason.

Iconostasis with a turn

The iconostasis for St. Basil's Cathedral was created in 1895 according to the design of the architect Andrei Pavlinov. This is the so-called iconostasis with a turn - it is so large for a small temple that it continues on the side walls. It is decorated with ancient icons - Our Lady of Smolensk from the 16th century and the image of St. Basil, painted in the 18th century.

The temple is also decorated with paintings - they were created on the walls of the building in different years. Here St. Basil and the Mother of God are depicted; the main dome is decorated with the face of the Savior Almighty.

Iconostasis in St. Basil's Cathedral. 2016. Photo: Vladimir d'Ar

“Lazarus, put him in his place!”

The cathedral was almost destroyed several times. During the Patriotic War of 1812, French stables were located here, and after that the temple was going to be blown up. Already in Soviet times, Stalin's associate Lazar Kaganovich proposed dismantling the cathedral so that there would be more space on Red Square for parades and demonstrations. He even created a model of the square, and the temple building was easily removed from it. But Stalin, seeing the architectural model, said: “Lazarus, put it in its place!”

...in memory

about the victory over Kazan

two skilled craftsmen

The king ordered the construction of a temple.

And these people erected

Unprecedented in the whole world, a motley, fabulous cathedral,

What is it worth so far...

N. Konchalovskaya

Everyone who comes to Moscow for the first time definitely goes to Red Square.

Red Square, Kremlin, Cathedral St. Basil's is the main attractions of Moscow that you need to see first.

Intercession Cathedral ( Cathedral St. Basil's) is an Orthodox church. Its official name Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the Moat. Its colloquial name is St. Basil's Cathedral. The famous St. Basil's Cathedral was erected under Ivan the Terrible in 1555 -1561.

The Intercession Cathedral is a magnificent ensemble of amazing harmony and great strength. Cathedral St. Basil's is a symbol of Moscow and Russian art.

The temple is considered one of the best works of ancient Russian architecture. It is also unusual as a work of engineering and construction art. It is a monument of world significance and is included in the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Russia. Currently, the Intercession Cathedral is a branch

The construction of churches in Russia has always marked significant events.

For what occasion was the Intercession Cathedral built?

On September 1, 1552, Russian troops took Kazan by storm and annexed it to Russian territory. By order of Ivan the Terrible, a temple was erected in memory of the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate. The original structure was wooden. The temple stood for no more than six months. In 1555, construction began on a stone cathedral, which has survived to this day. The architects of such a great structure were Postnik and Barma.

Initially the temple was called the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat. Why Pokrova?

The temple was built in honor of the Kazan victory. The decisive attack on the Kazan Kremlin took place on the day of the Orthodox church holiday of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, symbolizing defense. According to legend, the Mother of God once saved Constantinople by covering it with her veil.

Why on the Moat?

The cathedral was erected near the Kremlin moat.

Why does the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat have a different name - St. Basil's Cathedral?

According to folk legends, a beggar wanderer named Vasily lived in Moscow. On the streets and squares the holy fool begged for alms. He had a sharp tongue and spoke the truth to everyone, even the king. Among the people, Vasily was revered as Blessed, that is, a saint, a saint of God, a predictor. He died in 1588 and was buried in the northeastern part of the Intercession Cathedral. Six years after his death, the elder was canonized. His grave was very revered by Muscovites. Later, a chapel was built above it - a small church of St. Basil. From then to this day, this entire magnificent structure began to be called St. Basil's Cathedral. Folk legends contained stories about miraculous healings that occurred with the help of his relics, which were kept in the Vasilievsky chapel.

The cathedral is intended for contemplation from the outside; inside it is stern and laconic.

Bright, colorful domes are pleasing to the eye. There are nine of them in total and they are all different.

Medieval art has always been symbolic. The temple ensemble consists of eight churches, which are grouped around the ninth pillar-shaped church in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God. Each of the churches is dedicated to a saint, the day of whose celebration coincided with the most stubborn eight days of the assault on Kazan.

Total 78 photos

St. Basil's Cathedral occupies a special place not only among the masterpieces of world architecture, but also in the consciousness of any Russian person. This church on Red Square is the personification of the beauty of the Russian soul, its bottomless inner spiritual world, the innermost desire to find heaven and bliss, both on earth and in heaven. St. Basil's Cathedral is unconditionally recognized by all of us as one of the symbols of Russia and as one of its significant spiritual foundations. The architectural ensemble of Red Square is now simply unthinkable without this heavenly beauty embodied in stone. It’s scary to think, but according to one of the legends, the famous Lazar Kaganovich once suggested that Stalin demolish St. Basil’s Cathedral, effectively snatching it from the model of the reconstruction of Red Square, which was presented to the leader of the people for consideration. Lazarus! “Give us a place,” Stalin said briefly then...

St. Basil's Cathedral impresses you so much, it remains in your consciousness for a long time and continues to live in it for a long time, feeding the soul with the sensual immaterial energy of this earthly miracle. Being next to the temple, you can endlessly admire its unique living image, playing with all the facets of sublime and exquisite beauty from any angle. Many essays have been written about this temple, countless scientific studies have been conducted and, of course, countless materials from independent researchers and simply lovers of Russian architecture and antiquity have been posted online.

I wanted to present to my reader about the Church of the Intercession on the Moat something different from the works of other authors, which, of course, in this context, is a difficult and, in many ways, impossible task. However, I will still try) As usual, there will be many of my photographs of this temple, from its most varied angles, at different times of the year - in order to reveal both the external sensory image of the cathedral and to show its amazing internal spaces, without seeing which it is impossible to absorb all this Beauty entirely. As it turned out, while I was in the temple itself, I managed, as often happens to me, to miss some views and details of its rich interior when photographing, which, as usual, becomes clear when preparing specific material. Of course, these shortcomings will be filled in by me here as appropriate visual source material becomes available.

I am extremely interested in the period of construction of tented churches in Rus' and St. Basil's Cathedral occupies, among the miraculously surviving tented churches, its own special unique place, because the central architectural dominant of this masterpiece is the sublime tented church of the Intercession of the Virgin. This article will be one of several in a series of my future review articles about the period of tent construction in Rus'.

In the first part, according to tradition, we will try to absorb the wonderful and unique image of St. Basil's Cathedral, learn about its amazing and mysterious history, the spiritual basis of the history of its creation, about architectural features, and in the second and third parts we will examine and explore the church from the inside , because the main thing is a complex sensory impression, and it is precisely what we endure for ourselves and what remains, as a result, with us for a long time, or even forever.

I do not have an architectural education and I do not consider myself an independent expert in this field, but the field of art and creativity in the field of Orthodox architecture is extremely inspiring and interesting to me. Therefore, when talking about the architectural features of the cathedral, third-party sources will be used - as they say - we will not reinvent the wheel where it has already been invented a long time ago and everything is professionally and meticulously described and explained in detail. So, I will not try to be original in this sense. To separate an academic text about the history and architecture of the cathedral, I will highlight my impressions and considerations in italics.
02.

So, the cathedral was built in 1555-1561 by order of Ivan the Terrible in memory of the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate, which happened precisely on the day of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos - in early October 1552. There are several versions about the creators of the cathedral. According to one version, the architect was the famous Pskov master Postnik Yakovlev, nicknamed Barma.
03.

According to another, widely known version, Barma and Postnik are two different architects, both participating in the construction. But this version is now outdated. According to the third version, the cathedral was built by an unknown Western European master (presumably an Italian, as before - a significant part of the buildings of the Moscow Kremlin), hence such a unique style, combining the traditions of both Russian architecture and European architecture of the Renaissance, but this version is still I never found any clear documentary evidence.
04.

We have a more emotional detailed report, so I allowed myself to add to my story the warm feeling of the flower beds laid out on Red Square last summer...)
05.

According to Moscow legends, the architects of the cathedral (Barma and Postnik) were blinded by order of Ivan the Terrible so that they could no longer build a second temple of similar beauty. However, if the author of the cathedral is Postnik, then he could not have been blinded, since for several years after the construction of the cathedral he participated in the creation of the Kazan Kremlin.
06.

The temple itself symbolizes Heavenly Jerusalem, but the meaning of the color scheme of the domes remains an unsolved mystery to this day. Even in the last century, the writer Chaev suggested that the color of the domes of the temple can be explained by the dream of Blessed Andrew the Fool (of Constantinople), a holy ascetic with whom, according to Church Tradition, the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God is associated. He dreamed of Heavenly Jerusalem, and there “there were many gardens, in them there were tall trees, swaying with their tops... Some of the trees bloomed, others were decorated with golden foliage, others had various fruits of indescribable beauty.”
07.

Initially, the cathedral was painted to resemble brick. Later it was repainted; researchers discovered the remains of drawings depicting false windows and kokoshniks, as well as memorial inscriptions made with paint.
08.

In 1588, St. Basil's Church was added to the temple, for the construction of which arched openings were laid in the northeastern part of the cathedral. Architecturally, the church was an independent temple with a separate entrance. At the end of the 16th century, figurative domes of the cathedral appeared - to replace the original covering, which burned down during another fire. In the second half of the 17th century, significant changes took place in the external appearance of the cathedral - the open gallery surrounding the upper churches was covered with a vault, and porches decorated with tents were erected above the white stone stairs.
09.

The external and internal galleries, platforms and parapets of the porches were painted with grass patterns. These renovations were completed by 1683, and information about them was included in the inscriptions on the ceramic tiles that decorated the façade of the cathedral.
10.

Architecture of St. Basil's Cathedral

No matter how complex the design of the temple may seem, it is actually very logical. In the center of the composition is the main tent-roofed Church of the Intercession, around which are placed eight other pillar-shaped churches with domed tops. In plan, the cathedral forms an eight-pointed star. Large churches are located at the corners of the diamond. A rhombus inscribed in a square is the structure of the temple. The eight-pointed star in Christian symbolism carries a deep meaning - it symbolizes the entire Christian church, which is a guiding star in a person’s life to Heavenly Jerusalem.
11.

Another aspect of considering the architectural features of the temple as a whole can be reduced to a simple consideration of its architectural forms. All elements of the complex, including the central one, the Intercession Cathedral itself, and large and small churches correspond to different types of church architecture. But their interaction is based on several compositional elements. This is a combination of an octagon on a quadrangle, or two octagons of different diameters. The central part is two octagons on a quadrangle, crowned by a tent structure. Two octagons topped with a dome - this is how one can describe the architecture of large churches. Small churches - an octagon on a quadrangle, topped with a dome over a round drum. Although the lower part of small churches, their quadrangles, is very difficult to see, they are hidden behind the external decor - kokoshniks.
13.

Along the entire perimeter of the temple is decorated with kokoshniks, they are located in different ways, of different sizes, but they perform one function - they smooth out the transition from fours to eights. The cathedral was built on the principle of increasing height - the central tent is twice as high as large churches, large churches are twice as high as small ones.
14.

Another feature of the temple makes it completely different from others - the lack of symmetry in the decor and size of large and small churches. But the whole cathedral leaves an impression of composure and balance. Whoever was the author of the cathedral, his idea - the realization of both political and religious meaning - was impeccably embodied in its architectural forms. Similarity and difference, unification and separation - the combination of these mutually exclusive elements became the main theme in the architecture of the cathedral and the fundamental idea of ​​its design.
15.

The height of the temple is 65 meters. The cathedral consists of churches, the thrones of which were consecrated in honor of the holidays that fell on the days of the decisive battles for Kazan:

Trinity.

In honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (in honor of his Velikoretskaya icon from Vyatka).

Entry into Jerusalem.

In honor of the martyrs Adrian and Natalia (originally - in honor of the holy martyrs Cyprian and Justina - October 2).

Saints John the Merciful (until XVIII - in honor of Saints Paul, Alexander and John of Constantinople - November 6).

All these eight churches (four axial, four smaller ones between them) are crowned with onion domes and grouped around the ninth pillar-shaped church rising above them in honor of the Intercession of the Mother of God, completed with a tent with a small dome. All nine churches are united by a common base, a bypass (originally open) gallery and internal vaulted passages.
17.

In 1588, a tenth chapel was added to the cathedral from the northeast, consecrated in honor of St. Basil the Blessed (1469-1552), whose relics were located on the site where the cathedral was built. The name of this chapel gave the cathedral a second, everyday name. Adjacent to the chapel of St. Basil's is the chapel of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which Blessed John of Moscow was buried in 1589 (at first the chapel was consecrated in honor of the Placing of the Robe, but in 1680 it was reconsecrated as the Nativity of the Theotokos). In 1672, the discovery of the relics of St. John the Blessed took place there, and in 1916 it was reconsecrated in the name of Blessed John, the Moscow wonderworker.
19.

A tented bell tower was built in the 1670s.
21.

There are only eleven domes, of which nine are above the temple (according to the number of thrones):

Intercession of the Virgin Mary (center),

Holy Trinity (east),

Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (west),

Gregory of Armenia (northwest),

Alexander Svirsky (southeast),

Varlaam Khutynsky (southwest),

John the Merciful (formerly John, Paul and Alexander of Constantinople) (northeast),

Nicholas the Wonderworker of Velikoretsky (south),

Adrian and Natalia (formerly Cyprian and Justina) (north).

Two more domes are located above St. Basil's chapel and above the bell tower.
22.

The cathedral has been restored several times. In the 17th century, asymmetrical extensions were added, tents over the porches, intricate decorative treatment of the domes (originally they were gold), and ornamental paintings outside and inside (originally the cathedral itself was white).

FIRST LEVEL

Podklet (1st floor)

There are no basement spaces in the Intercession Cathedral. Churches and galleries are built on a single foundation - a basement, consisting of several rooms. The strong brick walls of the basement (up to 3 m thick) are covered with vaults. The height of these rooms is about 6.5 m.

On the plan of the first level, the rooms in the basement are indicated in black. In color - the churches of the second level of the cathedral.
23.

The design of the northern basement is unique for the 16th century. Its long box vault has no supporting pillars. The walls are cut through with narrow openings - vents. Together with the “breathable” building material - brick - they provide a special indoor microclimate at any time of the year.
24.

Previously, the basement premises were inaccessible to parishioners. The deep niches in it were used as storage. They were closed with doors, the hinges of which have now been preserved. Until 1595, the royal treasury was hidden in the basement. Wealthy townspeople also brought their property here.

One entered the basement from the upper central Church of the Intercession of Our Lady via an internal white stone staircase. Only particularly trusted persons knew about her. Later this narrow passage was blocked. However, during the restoration process of the 1930s. a secret staircase has been discovered. We'll see her again.
25.

In the basement there are icons of the Intercession Cathedral. The oldest of them is the icon of St. St. Basil's at the end of the 16th century, written specifically for the Intercession Cathedral. Also on display are two 17th-century icons. - “Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos” and “Our Lady of the Sign”. The icon “Our Lady of the Sign” is a replica of the façade icon located on the eastern wall of the cathedral. Written in the 1780s. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. The icon was located above the entrance to the chapel of St. Basil the Blessed.

Church of St. Basil the Blessed

The lower church was added to the cathedral in 1588 over the burial of St. Basil in the church cemetery. A stylized inscription on the wall tells about the construction of this church after the canonization of the saint by order of Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich. The temple is cubic in shape, covered with a cross vault and crowned with a small light drum with a dome. The roof of the church is made in the same style as the domes of the upper churches of the cathedral.

We can see the quadrangle of this church and the lowest level dome, green with crimson spikes, and, in fact, its chapels in the foreground in the photo below.
27.

Access to St. Basil's Cathedral itself begins precisely from St. Basil's Cathedral, which is located on the first level, unlike all the other churches of the cathedral...
There are a lot of people here on holidays, as you can see.
29.

Sacristy

In 1680, another church in the name of St. Theodosius the Virgin was added to the cathedral above St. Basil's Church. It was two-story (on the basement). The top was made in the form of an octagon with a head on a narrow drum.

Already in 1783, the octagon was dismantled and the church was turned into a sacristy (storage for vestments and liturgical utensils) at the Church of St. Basil the Blessed. Hilferding's painting, painted in 1770, is the only image of the Church of St. Theodosius the Virgin before its reconstruction. Currently, the sacristy has partially retained its purpose: it hosts exhibitions of things from the cathedral’s funds, that is, the very things that were once stored there.

A tour of the exhibition of St. Basil's Cathedral begins with the entrance through the small northern porch into the building of the former cathedral sacristy (on the left - in the photo below).
30.

But this photo was taken just from the entrance to the Museum of St. Basil's Cathedral.
31.

We will get to the museum later, but for now I suggest you carefully examine St. Basil’s Cathedral in detail and from different angles.

SECOND LEVEL

Galleries and porches

An external bypass gallery runs along the perimeter of the cathedral around all the churches. Initially it was open. In the middle of the 19th century, the glass gallery became part of the cathedral's interior. Arched entrance openings lead from the external gallery to the platforms between the churches and connect it with internal passages.
32.

The central Church of the Intercession of Our Lady is surrounded by an internal bypass gallery. Its vaults hide the upper parts of the churches. In the second half of the 17th century. the gallery was painted with floral patterns. Later, narrative oil paintings appeared in the cathedral, which were updated several times. Tempera painting is currently unveiled in the gallery. Oil paintings from the 19th century have been preserved on the eastern section of the gallery. - images of saints in combination with floral patterns.

This is a large northern porch - through it the exit of tourists visiting the museum and churches of the cathedral is already carried out.
33.

Actually, these are the views you can take from him...
35.

Previously, daylight penetrated into the gallery from windows located above the passages in the walkway. Today it is illuminated by mica lanterns from the 17th century, which were previously used during religious processions. The multi-domed tops of the outrigger lanterns resemble the exquisite silhouette of a cathedral. We'll also look at the lanterns a little later.
37.

This is the western side of the cathedral. Now we will go around it counterclockwise. Some of the photos you see were taken intentionally with high geometric distortions in order to capture, if possible, the entire façade of the cathedral.
38.

Two galleries unite the chapels of the cathedral into a single ensemble. Narrow internal passages and wide platforms create the impression of a “city of churches.” After passing through the labyrinth of the internal gallery, you can get to the porch areas of the cathedral. Their vaults are “carpets of flowers,” the intricacies of which fascinate and attract the attention of visitors.
48.

Now we are on the south side of St. Basil's Cathedral. The area in front of the cathedral is quite spacious. Relatively recently, archaeological excavations were carried out in this place. Their results can be seen right there - stone cannonballs and ancient cannons were found...