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THE SAINT BASIL CATHEDRAL
The official name is The Cathedral of the Protection of the Mother of God.(Theotokos or Bogoroditza). Also know as Pokrovsky Sobor.
It was built by Ivan the Terrible (Grozny) in the years 1554-1560 to commemorate the victory over the Mongol Tatar Khanate with the capital Kazan, whihc disturbed Russia by endless raids and invasions, bringing chaos and destruction to hundreds of villages, death to tens of thousands of population.
Saint Basil has a tolta of ten towers sporting domes. The largest is at the center of the cathedral know as the Church of the Feast of the Pokhrov. There are four more, each topping a church located on a cardinal point, north, south, east, and west. Then an additional four at the northest, southeast, northwest, and southwest points. Each of them represent an important religious Orthodox event or holiday. Then there is one that does not stand on on a rose point. It was built in 1555 and is located over the grave of Saint Basil. It became part of the cathedral in 1588.
St. Basil was a very notorious man in the times of Ivan Grozny. He roamed the streets of Moscow trying to win converts during the reign of Grozny. In spite of brutal winters and unforgiving summers, he conducted his crusade along and naked. He was one of the few people who spelled out the truth to the Tsar, especially about the atrocities the Tsar had committed against his own population and even the noble people and friends. He predicted the fire of Moscow in 1547.
The cathedral was designed by architects Barma and Posnik. Early evidence gives us a confusing information that it could have been a single person. According to another legend, the Cathedral was designed by an Italian architect, who then was blinded on orders of the Tsar, so he could not never have built such a beautiful building. There is a fact that in between 1475 and 1510 Italian architects were commissioned the restoration work of Kremlin and its several churches and were employed by Russians in Moscow at that time. St. Basil Cathedral is a symbol of Moscow, Russia and its Red Square. It withstood foreign invasions, natural disasters and even the orders of ruthless political figures such as Napoleon, who wanted to burn with little success, and Stalin, who wanted to demolish it to increase space. for his military parades.
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