A national anniversary peeps out as Russia marks a day of mourning. July 12 is the 450th birthday of St Basil’s Cathedral, perhaps Moscow’s most iconic building.
There is nothing like the painted domes that cluster at the south of Red Square. Historical, mesmerizing and just plain strange, there are unique in Russian architecture.
Celebrations to mark the anniversary are muted. Flags are flying at half mast for the dozens who died in the Volga disaster, and the date is chiefly a spiritual occasion, commemorated this morning by a special service led by the Patriarch.
Restored to glory
“Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will lead the divine liturgy at the Intercession Cathedral on the day of the apostles Peter and Paul and of the 450th anniversary of the church. The Russian Orthodox Church is also planning an inspection of the restored interior of the church,” deacon Alexander Volkov, head of the patriarchal press-service told RIA Novosti.
It’s a relatively rare divine service in the cathedral, which is now a secular site owned and operated by the State Historical Museum.
Renovation and rebuilding works have stopped and started since Ivan the Terrible built the Cathedral, and they look set to continue.
“The favorite question among our visitors is, ‘When will you complete the restoration?’ and we reply that we would be happy if the church’s restoration is never finished,” Tatyana Saracheva, director of the cathedral museum told RIA Novosti.
A Russian Jerusalem
The Cathedral, correctly of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, was dedicated on July 12, 1561. Built to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it was the tallest building in the city until Ivan the Great Bell tower was completed in 1600.
It was perceived as the earthly symbol of the heavenly city and served as an allegory for the Temple of Jerusalem, through the 16th and 17th centuries it was in fact popularly referred to as Jerusalem.
A collection of seven churches had been built up around a central trinity tower, but Ivan the Terrible was unimpressed with the clutter. The architects abandoned this haphazard sprawl in favor of a symmetrical floor plan with eight side churches around the core.
The blinding tower
Tradition has it that Ivan blinded the architect, so that he could not re-create his masterpiece for anyone else.
But chronicles suggest that the architect was Postnik Yakovlev or Ivan Yakovlevich Barma (Varfolomei), who remained active through the 1560s, making it unlikely that he had lost his sight to the irascible tsar.
The church acquired its present-day vivid colors in several stages from the 1680s to 1848. It was spared by the Fire of Moscow (1812) that razed Kitai-Gorod, and by the French troops’ failure to blow it up on Napoleon’s orders.
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