St. Basil’s Cathedral Architecture Guide: History of St. Basil's Cathedral

Saint Basil’s Cathedral is a church, museum, and architectural icon in Moscow. Officially called the Church of Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, it is also known as the Church of Vasily the Blessed or Pokrovsky Cathedral. The building, located in Moscow’s Red Square, was built in the sixteenth century as a Russian Orthodox church. Standing at 156 feet, St. Basil’s was the capital’s tallest building until 1600—at which point Ivan the Great Bell Tower surpassed it.

The building, first known as Trinity Church, features nine colorful domes, two spires, and ten chapels. The chapels were secularized in 1929 but resumed services in 1997 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. St. Basil’s Cathedral is also a symbolic tribute to Mary, Mother of God, and so it is also known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat.

Ivan IV—commonly known as Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia and the grandson of Ivan the Great—commanded the construction of the cathedral to memorialize his victorious conquests of Kazan and Astrakhan.

• Architects: St. Basil’s was built from 1555 to 1561. Architectural historians often credit Ivan Barma and Postnik Yakovlev as the architects and builders of this famed church. However, one legend stipulates that Italian architects designed the cathedral, and the wrathful Tsar Ivan IV blinded them so that they could not replicate the design.
• St. Basil: The cathedral’s namesake is Vasily (Basil) the Blessed, a Russian Orthodox saint who was known as a holy fool for stealing from the miserly to give to the poor. Basil was buried in the cathedral in 1577.
• Addition of colorful paint: Historians say the original color of the church was white—to match the Kremlin’s stone—and its domes were gold. Inspired by verses in the Book of Revelations, vivid colors were painted on the domes in the seventeenth century, giving the building a signature look in the Red Square.
• Fire damage: Fire damaged the cathedral in 1737, and the building was under repair for much of the eighteenth century.
• Secularization: The revered house of worship was secularized in 1929 after being confiscated by the state during the Bolshevik Revolution.
• Joseph Stalin: Later in the twentieth century, Joseph Stalin wished to reconstruct the capital, threatening the existence of St. Basil’s. Architects like Pyotr Baranovsky fought back against Stalin’s proposed demolition of the cathedral; Baranovsky went to prison, but the edifice was spared.
• Lasting influence: Today, the cathedral operates as a museum with public and private tours, though church services still take place on a less regular basis. In 1990, the church, along with the Kremlin and Red Square, was named an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

St. Basil’s unique style of architecture stands in contrast to other works of the Muscovy and Byzantine tradition. The rise of vernacular wooden churches in Russia led some architectural historians to believe that St. Basil’s was a blend of such designs with Byzantine and even Asian motifs.

Italian architects worked in Moscow around the time of the church’s construction. Greek refugees also settled in the capital in that era, so St. Basil’s architecture is a melting pot of many different cultural styles. Italian architects trained in perspective drawing may have influenced the depth and dynamics of this singular creation.

While the origins of its designs are debated, St. Basil’s is an incredible architectural feat that marks a height of Russian national architecture. The cathedral has a symmetrical ground plan with ten chapels: Eight chapels surround the ninth central church, called the Church of the Intercession, and the tenth chapel was added over the grave of St. Basil in 1588.

The foundation was built in white stone, with the individual churches constructed with red brick. Behind that brick, wooden frames ascend the height of the church. Red brick was a new medium of the day, and the architects used it both practically and ornamentally. The brickwork is left open, and brick-like patterns were painted over any stucco walls.

A sight to behold, St. Basil’s Cathedral boasts many unique characteristics:

1. 1. Onion domes: St. Basil’s has nine onion-shaped domes painted with vibrant, candy-striped colors and swirling patterns.
2. 2. Colors: First built in white stone and red brick, the iconic church gained color over the centuries. Brighter colors were in vogue in seventeenth-century Russia, so the onion domes were gilded, and ceramic inserts were added to give pops of blue, red, green, and other hues.
3. 3. Contrasting shapes and patterns: Bricks and ceramics with different patterns adorn the spires, arches, and domes of St. Basil’s, giving the building a dynamic flair. Angular crosses sit atop orb-like domes, creating a juxtaposition of shape and angle. Domes also feature crisscrossing and swirling lines and rest on cylindrical bases.

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