Saint Basil's Cathedral
Russian Orthodox cathedral on Red Square, built by Ivan the Terrible.
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via Wikipedia: Saint Basil's Cathedral · see source
Where it is
Coordinates: 55°45′07″N 37°37′23″E (55.7520, 37.6230) · Open in OpenStreetMap
Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Saint Basil's Cathedral (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.
On Red Square in central Moscow, one finds the Russian Orthodox church commonly called Saint Basil's Cathedral.[1]
Geography and history
A tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily.[2] For each victory in the Russo-Kazan War, Tsar Ivan IV had a wooden memorial church built adjacent to the walls of Trinity Church.[3] Between 1555 and 1561, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the stone cathedral to celebrate the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan.[1] The initial structure, referred to as Trinity Church, featured eight chapels positioned around a ninth, central chapel that was devoted to the Intercession.[2]
Due to the Soviet Union's anti-religious policies, the church was taken from the Russian Orthodox community and, starting in 1928, has been run as a department of the State Historical Museum.[4] In 1929, the building was fully secularized, and it continues to be owned by the Russian Federation as federal property.[4] Since 1990, this church has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square.[5]
What the cited sources add
The UNESCO card notes that the cathedral was erected in 1555–1560 to commemorate the victory of Ivan the Terrible over the Kazan Khanate.[6] A Dotdash travel article explains that St. Basil's Cathedral is located on Red Square beside the Moscow Kremlin.[7] The same source notes that the cathedral is named for Basil the Fool, or Basil the Blessed.[7] An RBTH article reports that the cathedral got its second name after Basil the Blessed because the Moscow holy fool predicted the fire of 1547.[8]
The RBTH article also states that after Basil was canonized in 1588, a 10th church was added to house his relics.[8] The Dotdash article mentions that Stalin decided against tearing the cathedral down even though it would have opened up Red Square.[7] According to UNESCO, St. Basil's Cathedral is described as one of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox monuments.[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Saint Basil's Cathedral" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat", Moscow Patriarchy, 12 July 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Saint Basil's Cathedral" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: A concise English history of the evolution of the church's names is provided in Shvidkovsky 2007 p. 126 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Saint Basil's Cathedral" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kudryavtsev, p. 72 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Saint Basil's Cathedral" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Pokrovsky Cathedral (in Russian)", State Historical Museum, official site; "Pokrovsky Cathedral (in Russian)", State Historical Museum, official site (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Saint Basil's Cathedral" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (WHS card)", UNESCO; "St. Basil's Cathedral", Dotdash; "Московский Кремль: собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы на Рву (храм Василия Блаженного) / Организации / Патриархия.ru" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow (WHS card)", UNESCO. facts only, no text reused. whc.unesco.org
- "St. Basil's Cathedral", Dotdash. facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
- RBTH, "8 facts about Russia's best-known church – St. Basil's Cathedral", 2016-07-12. facts only, no text reused. rbth.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Saint Basil's Cathedral (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Saint Basil's Cathedral (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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