Как пишется собор василия блаженного

Cathedral of the Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat
Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву (Russian)
Saint Basil’s Cathedral as viewed from Red Square
Religion
Affiliation	Russian Orthodox
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	State Historical Museum with church services since 1991
Year consecrated	12 July 1561[1]
Status	Active
Location
Location	Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Shown within Central Moscow
Geographic coordinates	55°45′9″N 37°37′23″E / 55.75250°N 37.62306°ECoordinates: 55°45′9″N 37°37′23″E / 55.75250°N 37.62306°E
Architecture
Architect(s)	Ivan Barma and Postnik Yakovlev[2]
Type	Church
Groundbreaking	1555
Specifications
Height (max)	47.5 metres (156 ft)[3]
Dome(s)	10
Dome height (inner)	ff
Spire(s)	2
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Designated	1990[4]
Reference no.	545
State Party	Russia
Region	Europe
Session	14th
Website
Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed[dead link] State Historical Museum

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного, tr. Sobór Vasíliya Blazhénnogo), commonly known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral.^[5] It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was the city’s tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.^[6]

The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight chapels arranged around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, perceived (as with all churches in Byzantine Christianity) as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City,^[7] was popularly known as the «Jerusalem» and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.^[8]

The cathedral has nine domes (each one corresponding to a different church) and is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky.^[9] Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West, states that «it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to the fifteenth century … a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design.»^[10] The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century.^[11]

As part of the program of state atheism, the church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union’s antireligious campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928.^[12] It was completely secularized in 1929,^[12] and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.^[13][14] With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, weekly Orthodox Christian services with prayer to St. Basil have been restored since 1997.^[15]

Construction under Ivan IV[edit]

The site of the church had been, historically, a busy marketplace between the St. Fool’s (later Saviour’s) Gate of the Moscow Kremlin and the outlying posad. The centre of the marketplace was marked by the Trinity Church, built of the same white stone as the Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoy (1366–68) and its cathedrals. Tsar Ivan IV marked every victory of the Russo-Kazan War by erecting a wooden memorial church next to the walls of Trinity Church; by the end of his Astrakhan campaign, it was shrouded within a cluster of seven wooden churches. According to the report in Nikon’s Chronicle, in the autumn of 1554 Ivan ordered the construction of the wooden Church of Intercession on the same site, «on the moat».^[16] One year later, Ivan ordered the construction of a new stone cathedral on the site of Trinity Church to commemorate his campaigns. Dedication of a church to a military victory was «a major innovation»^[10] for Muscovy. The placement of the church outside the Kremlin walls was a political statement in favour of posad commoners and against hereditary boyars.^[17]

Contemporary commentators clearly identified the new building as Trinity Church, after its easternmost sanctuary;^[16] the status of «katholikon» (собор, sobor, large assembly church) had not been bestowed on it yet:

On the Trinity on the Moat in Moscow.
In the same year, through the will of czar and lord and grand prince Ivan began making the pledged church, as he promised for the capture of Kazan: Trinity and Intercession and seven sanctuaries, also called «on the moat». And the builder was Barma with company.

The identity of the architect is unknown.^[19] Tradition held that the church was built by two architects, Barma and Postnik:^[19][20] the official Russian cultural heritage register lists «Barma and Postnik Yakovlev».^[2] Researchers proposed that both names refer to the same person, Postnik Yakovlev^[20] or, alternatively, Ivan Yakovlevich Barma (Varfolomey).^[19] Legend held that Ivan blinded the architect so that he could not re-create the masterpiece elsewhere.^[21][22][23] Many historians are convinced that it is a myth, as the architect later participated in the construction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow as well as in building the walls and towers of the Kazan Kremlin.^[24][25] Postnik Yakovlev remained active at least throughout the 1560s.^[26]

There is evidence that construction involved stonemasons from Pskov^[27] and German lands.^[28]

Architectural style[edit]

Because the church has no analog—in the preceding, contemporary, or later architecture of Muscovy and Byzantine cultural tradition, in general,^[10]—the sources that inspired Barma and Postnik are disputed. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc rejected European roots for the cathedral, opining that its corbel arches were Byzantine and ultimately Asian.^[31] A modern «Asian» hypothesis considers the cathedral a recreation of Qolşärif Mosque, which was destroyed by Russian troops after the Siege of Kazan.^[32]

Nineteenth-century Russian writers, starting with Ivan Zabelin,^[7] emphasized the influence of the vernacular wooden churches of the Russian North; their motifs made their ways into masonry, particularly the votive churches that did not need to house substantial congregations.^[33] David Watkin also wrote of a blend of Russian and Byzantine roots, calling the cathedral «the climax» of Russian vernacular wooden architecture.^[34]

The church combines the staggered layered design of the earliest (1505–1508) part of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower,^[35] the central tent of the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530s), and the cylindric shape of the Church of Beheading of John the Baptist in Dyakovo (1547);^[29] but the origin of these unique buildings is equally debated. The Church in Kolomenskoye, according to Sergei Podyapolsky, was built by Italian Petrok Maly,^[28] although mainstream history has not yet accepted his opinion. Andrey Batalov revised the year of completion of Dyakovo church from 1547 to the 1560s–70s, and noted that Trinity Church could have had no tangible predecessors at all.^[36]

Dmitry Shvidkovsky suggested that the «improbable» shapes of the Intercession Church and the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye manifested an emerging national renaissance, blending earlier Muscovite elements with the influence of Italian Renaissance.^[37] A large group of Italian architects and craftsmen continuously worked in Moscow in 1474–1539, as well as Greek refugees who arrived in the city after the fall of Constantinople.^[38] These two groups, according to Shvidkovsky, helped Moscow rulers in forging the doctrine of Third Rome, which in turn promoted assimilation of contemporary Greek and Italian culture.^[38] Shvidkovsky noted the resemblance of the cathedral’s floorplan to Italian concepts by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Donato Bramante, but most likely Filarete’s Trattato di architettura. Other Russian researchers noted a resemblance to sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, although he could not have been known in Ivan’s Moscow.^[39] Nikolay Brunov recognized the influence of these prototypes but not their significance;^[40] he suggested that mid-16th century Moscow already had local architects trained in Italian tradition, architectural drawing and perspective, and that this culture was lost during the Time of Troubles.^[41]

Andrey Batalov wrote that judging by the number of novel elements introduced with Trinity Church, it was most likely built by German craftsmen.^[28] Batalov and Shvidkovsky noted that during Ivan’s reign, Germans and Englishmen replaced Italians, although German influence peaked later during the reign of Mikhail Romanov.^[28] German influence is indirectly supported by the rusticated pilasters of the central church, a feature more common in contemporary Northern Europe than in Italy.^[42]

The 1983 academic edition of Monuments of Architecture in Moscow takes the middle ground: the church is, most likely, a product of the complex interaction of distinct Russian traditions of wooden and stone architecture, with some elements borrowed from the works of Italians in Moscow.^[43] Specifically, the style of brickwork in the vaults is Italian.^[43]

Layout[edit]

Instead of following the original ad hoc layout (seven churches around the central core), Ivan’s architects opted for a more symmetrical floor plan with eight side churches around the core,^[20] producing «a thoroughly coherent, logical plan»^[44][45] despite the erroneous latter «notion of a structure devoid of restraint or reason»^[44] influenced by the memory of Ivan’s irrational atrocities.^[44] The central core and the four larger churches placed on the four major compass points are octagonal; the four diagonally placed smaller churches are cuboid, although their shape is hardly visible through later additions.^[46] The larger churches stand on massive foundations, while the smaller ones were each placed on a raised platform as if hovering above ground.^[47]

Although the side churches are arranged in perfect symmetry, the cathedral as a whole is not.^[48][49] The larger central church was deliberately^[48] offset to the west from the geometric centre of the side churches, to accommodate its larger apse^[48] on the eastern side. As a result of this subtle calculated^[48] asymmetry, viewing from the north and the south presents a complex multi-axial shape, while the western façade, facing the Kremlin, appears properly symmetrical and monolithic.^[48][49] The latter perception is reinforced by the fortress-style machicolation and corbeled cornice of the western Church of Entry into Jerusalem, mirroring the real fortifications of the Kremlin.^[50]

Inside the composite church is a labyrinth of narrow vaulted corridors and vertical cylinders of the churches.^[29] Today the cathedral consists of nine individual chapels.^[51] The largest, central one, the Church of the Intercession, is 46 metres (151 ft) tall internally but has a floor area of only 64 square metres (690 sq ft).^[29] Nevertheless, it is wider and airier than the church in Kolomenskoye with its exceptionally thick walls.^[52] The corridors functioned as internal parvises; the western corridor, adorned with a unique flat caissoned ceiling, doubled as the narthex.^[29]

The detached belfry of the original Trinity Church stood southwest or south of the main structure. Late 16th- and early 17th-century plans depict a simple structure with three roof tents, most likely covered with sheet metal.^[53] No buildings of this type survive to date, although it was then common and used in all of the pass-through towers of Skorodom.^[54] August von Meyenberg’s panorama (1661) presents a different building, with a cluster of small onion domes.^[53]

Structure[edit]

The foundations, as was traditional in medieval Moscow, were built of white stone, while the churches themselves were built of red brick (28 by 14 by 8 cm (11.0 by 5.5 by 3.1 in)), then a relatively new material^[20] (the first attested brick building in Moscow, the new Kremlin Wall, was started in 1485).^[55] Surveys of the structure show that the basement level is perfectly aligned, indicating use of professional drawing and measurement, but each subsequent level becomes less and less regular.^[56] Restorers who replaced parts of the brickwork in 1954–1955 discovered that the massive brick walls conceal an internal wooden frame running the entire height of the church.^[7][57] This frame, made of elaborately tied thin studs, was erected as a life-size spatial model of the future cathedral and was then gradually enclosed in solid masonry.^[7][57]

The builders, fascinated by the flexibility of the new technology,^[58] used red bricks as a decorative medium both inside and out, leaving as much brickwork open as possible; when location required the use of stone walls, it was decorated with a brickwork pattern painted over stucco.^[58] A major novelty introduced by the church was the use of strictly «architectural» means of exterior decoration.^[59] Sculpture and sacred symbols employed by earlier Russian architecture are completely missing; floral ornaments are a later addition.^[59] Instead, the church boasts a diversity of three-dimensional architectural elements executed in brick.

Colour[edit]

The church acquired its present-day vivid colours in several stages from the 1680s^[7] to 1848.^[43] Russian attitude towards colour in the 17th century changed in favour of bright colours; iconographic and mural art experienced an explosive growth in the number of available paints, dyes and their combinations.^[60] The original colour scheme, missing these innovations, was far less challenging. It followed the depiction of the Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation:^[61]

And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats, I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

The 25 seats from the biblical reference are alluded to in the building’s structure, with the addition of eight small onion domes around the central tent, four around the western side church and four elsewhere. This arrangement survived through most of the 17th century.^[62] The walls of the church mixed bare red brickwork or painted imitation of bricks with white ornaments, in roughly equal proportion.^[61] The domes, covered with tin, were uniformly gilded, creating an overall bright but fairly traditional combination of white, red and golden colours.^[61] Moderate use of green and blue ceramic inserts provided a touch of rainbow as prescribed by the Bible.^[61]

While historians agree on the colour of the 16th-century domes, their shape is disputed. Boris Eding wrote that they most likely were of the same onion shape as the present-day domes.^[63] However, both Kolomenskoye and Dyakovo churches have flattened hemispherical domes, and the same type could have been used by Barma and Postnik.^[64]

Development[edit]

1583–1596[edit]

The original Trinity Church burnt down in 1583 and was refitted by 1593.^[43] The ninth sanctuary, dedicated to Basil Fool for Christ (the 1460s–1552), was added in 1588 next to the north-eastern sanctuary of the Three Patriarchs.^[43] Another local fool, Ivan the Blessed, was buried on the church grounds in 1589; a sanctuary in his memory was established in 1672 inside the south-eastern arcade.^[7]

The vault of the Saint Basil Sanctuary serves as a reference point in evaluating the quality of Muscovite stonemasonry and engineering. As one of the first vaults of its type, it represents the average of engineering craft that peaked a decade later in the church of the Trinity in Khoroshovo (completed 1596).^[65] The craft was lost in the Time of Troubles; buildings from the first half of the 17th century lack the refinement of the late 16th century, compensating for poor construction skill with thicker walls and heavier vaults.^[65]

1680–1683[edit]

The second, and most significant, round of refitting and expansion took place in 1680–1683.^[7] The nine churches themselves retained their appearance, but additions to the ground-floor arcade and the first-floor platform were so profound that Nikolay Brunov rebuilt a composite church from an «old» building and an independent work that incorporated the «new» Trinity Church.^[66] What once was a group of nine independent churches on a common platform became a monolithic temple.^[66][67]

The formerly open ground-floor arcades were filled with brick walls; the new space housed altars from thirteen former wooden churches erected on the site of Ivan’s executions in Red Square.^[7] Wooden shelters above the first-floor platform and stairs (the cause of frequent fires) were rebuilt in brick, creating the present-day wrap-around galleries with tented roofs above the porches and vestibules.^[7]

The old detached belfry was demolished; its square basement was reused for a new belltower.^[7] The tall single tented roof of this belltower, built in the vernacular style of the reign of Alexis I, significantly changed the appearance of the cathedral, adding a strong asymmetrical counterweight to the church itself.^[68] The effect is most pronounced on the southern and eastern facades (as viewed from Zaryadye), although the belltower is large enough to be seen from the west.^[68]

The first ornamental murals in the cathedral appeared in the same period, starting with floral ornaments inside the new galleries; the towers retained their original brickwork pattern.^[7] Finally, in 1683, the church was adorned with a tiled cornice in yellow and blue, featuring a written history of the church^[7] in Old Slavic typeface.

1737–1784[edit]

In 1737 the church was damaged by a massive fire and later restored by Ivan Michurin.^[69] The inscriptions made in 1683 were removed during the repairs of 1761–1784. The church received its first figurative murals inside the churches; all exterior and interior walls of the first two floors were covered with floral ornamentation.^[7] The belltower was connected with the church through a ground-floor annex;^[7] the last remaining open arches of the former ground-floor arcade were filled during the same period,^[7] erasing the last hint of what was once an open platform carrying the nine churches of Ivan’s Jerusalem.

1800–1848[edit]

Paintings of Red Square by Fyodor Alekseyev, made in 1800–1802, show that by this time the church was enclosed in an apparently chaotic cluster of commercial buildings; rows of shops «transformed Red Square into an oblong and closed yard.»^[70] In 1800 the space between the Kremlin wall and the church was still occupied by a moat that predated the church itself.^[71] The moat was filled in preparation for the coronation of Alexander I in 1801.^[72] The French troops who occupied Moscow in 1812 used the church for stables and looted anything worth taking.^[69] The church was spared by the Fire of Moscow (1812) that razed Kitai-gorod, and by the troops’ failure to blow it up according to Napoleon’s order.^[69] The interiors were repaired in 1813 and the exterior in 1816. Instead of replacing missing ceramic tiles of the main tent, the Church preferred to simply cover it with a tin roof.^[73]

The fate of the immediate environment of the church has been a subject of dispute between city planners since 1813.^[74] Scotsman William Hastie proposed clearing the space around all sides of the church and all the way down to the Moskva River;^[75] the official commission led by Fyodor Rostopchin and Mikhail Tsitsianov^[76] agreed to clear only the space between the church and Lobnoye Mesto.^[75] Hastie’s plan could have radically transformed the city,^[74] but he lost to the opposition, whose plans were finally endorsed by Alexander I in December 1817^[75] (the specific decision on clearing the rubble around the church was issued in 1816).^[69]

Nevertheless, actual redevelopment by Joseph Bove resulted in clearing the rubble and creating Vasilyevskaya (St. Basil’s) Square between the church and Kremlin wall by shaving off the crest of the Kremlin Hill between the church and the Moskva River.^[77] Red Square was opened to the river, and «St. Basil thus crowned the decapitated hillock.»^[77] Bove built the stone terrace wall separating the church from the pavement of Moskvoretskaya Street; the southern side of the terrace was completed in 1834.^[7] Minor repairs continued until 1848, when the domes acquired their present-day colours.^[43]

1890–1914[edit]

Preservationist societies monitored the state of the church and called for a proper restoration throughout the 1880s and 1890s,^[78][79] but it was regularly delayed for lack of funds. The church did not have a congregation of its own and could only rely on donations raised through public campaigning;^[80] national authorities in Saint Petersburg and local in Moscow prevented financing from state and municipal budgets.^[80] In 1899 Nicholas II reluctantly admitted that this expense was necessary,^[81] but again all the involved state and municipal offices, including the Holy Synod, denied financing.^[81] Restoration, headed by Andrey Pavlinov (died 1898) and Sergey Solovyov, dragged on from 1896^[82] to 1909; in total, preservationists managed to raise around 100,000 roubles.^[81]

Restoration began with replacing the roofing of the domes.^[79] Solovyov removed the tin roofing of the main tent installed in the 1810s and found many original tiles missing and others discoloured;^[79] after a protracted debate the whole set of tiles on the tented roof was replaced with new ones.^[79] Another dubious decision allowed the use of standard bricks that were smaller than the original 16th-century ones.^[83] Restorers agreed that the paintwork of the 19th century must be replaced with a «truthful recreation» of historic patterns, but these had to be reconstructed and deduced based on medieval miniatures.^[84] In the end, Solovyov and his advisers chose a combination of deep red with deep green that is retained to the present.^[84]

In 1908 the church received its first warm air heating system, which did not work well because of heat losses in long air ducts, heating only the eastern and northern sanctuaries.^[85] In 1913 it was complemented with a pumped water heating system serving the rest of the church.^[85]

1918–1941[edit]

During World War I, the church was headed by protoiereus Ioann Vostorgov, a nationalist preacher and a leader of the Black-Hundredist Union of the Russian People. Vostorgov was arrested by Bolsheviks in 1918 on a pretext of embezzling nationalized church properties and was executed in 1919.^{[citation needed]} The church briefly enjoyed Vladimir Lenin’s «personal interest»;^[86] in 1923 it became a public museum, though religious services continued until 1929.^[12]

Bolshevik planners entertained ideas of demolishing the church after Lenin’s funeral (January 1924).^[87] In the first half of the 1930s, the church became an obstacle for Joseph Stalin’s urbanist plans, carried out by Moscow party boss Lazar Kaganovich, «the moving spirit behind the reconstruction of the capital».^[88] The conflict between preservationists, notably Pyotr Baranovsky, and the administration continued at least until 1936 and spawned urban legends. In particular, a frequently-told story is that Kaganovich picked up a model of the church in the process of envisioning Red Square without it, and Stalin sharply responded «Lazar, put it back!» Similarly, Stalin’s master planner, architect Vladimir Semyonov, reputedly dared to «grab Stalin’s elbow when the leader picked up a model of the church to see how Red Square would look without it» and was replaced by pure functionary Sergey Chernyshov.^[89]

In the autumn of 1933, the church was struck from the heritage register. Baranovsky was summoned to perform a last-minute survey of the church slated for demolition, and was then arrested for his objections.^[90] While he served his term in the Gulag, attitudes changed and by 1937 even hard-line Bolshevik planners admitted that the church should be spared.^[91][92] In the spring of 1939, the church was locked, probably because demolition was again on the agenda;^[93] however, the 1941 publication of Dmitry Sukhov’s detailed book^[94] on the survey of the church in 1939–1940 speaks against this assumption.

1947 to present[edit]

In the first years after World War II renovators restored the historical ground-floor arcades and pillars that supported the first-floor platform, cleared up vaulted and caissoned ceilings in the galleries, and removed «unhistoric» 19th-century oil paint murals inside the churches.^[7] Another round of repairs, led by Nikolay Sobolev in 1954–1955, restored original paint imitating brickwork, and allowed restorers to dig inside old masonry, revealing the wooden frame inside it.^[7] In the 1960s, the tin roofing of the domes was replaced with copper.^[12]

The last round of renovation was completed in September 2008 with the opening of the restored sanctuary of St. Alexander Svirsky.^[95] The building is still partly in use today as a museum and, since 1991, is occasionally used for services by the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1997 Orthodox Christian services have been held regularly. Nowadays every Sunday at Saint Basil’s church there is a divine liturgy at 10 a.m. with an Akathist to Saint Basil.^[96][15]

Naming[edit]

The building, originally known as «Trinity Church»,^[10] was consecrated on 12 July 1561,^[12] and was subsequently elevated to the status of a sobor (similar to an ecclesiastical basilica in the Catholic Church, but usually and incorrectly translated as «cathedral»).^[97] «Trinity», according to tradition, refers to the easternmost sanctuary of the Holy Trinity, while the central sanctuary of the church is dedicated to the Intercession of Mary. Together with the westernmost sanctuary of the Entry into Jerusalem, these sanctuaries form the main east–west axis (Christ, Mary, Holy Trinity), while other sanctuaries are dedicated to individual saints.^[98]

Sanctuaries of the cathedral

Compass point[99]	Type[99]	Dedicated to[99]	Commemorates
Central core	Tented church	Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos	Beginning of the final assault of Kazan, 1 October 1552
West	Column	Entry of Christ into Jerusalem	Triumph of the Muscovite troops
North-west	Groin vault	Saint Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia	Capture of Ars Tower of Kazan Kremlin, 30 September 1552
North	Column	Saint Martyrs Cyprian and Justinia (since 1786 Saint Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia)	Complete capture of Kazan Kremlin, 2 October 1552
North-east	Groin vault	Three Patriarchs of Alexandria (since 1680 Saint John the Merciful)	Defeat of Yepancha’s cavalry on 30 August 1552
East	Column	Life-giving Holy Trinity	Historical Trinity Church on the same site
South-east	Groin vault	Saint Alexander Svirsky	Defeat of Yepancha’s cavalry on 30 August 1552
South	Column	The icon of Saint Nicholas from the Velikaya River (Nikola Velikoretsky)	The icon was brought to Moscow in 1555.
South-west	Groin vault	Saint Barlaam of Khutyn	May have been built to commemorate Vasili III of Russia[100]
North-eastern annex (1588)	Groin vault	Basil the Blessed	Grave of venerated local saint
South-eastern annex (1672)	Groin vault	Laying the Veil (since 1680: Nativity of Theotokos, since 1916: Saint John the Blessed of Moscow)	Grave of venerated local saint

The name «Intercession Church» came into use later,^[10] coexisting with Trinity Church. From the end of the 16th century^[67] to the end of the 17th century the cathedral was also popularly called Jerusalem, with reference to its church of Entry into Jerusalem^[7] as well as to its sacral role in religious rituals. Finally, the name of Vasily (Basil) the Blessed, who died during construction and was buried on-site, was attached to the church at the beginning of the 17th century.^[10]

Current Russian tradition accepts two coexisting names of the church: the official^[10] «Church of Intercession on the Moat» (in full, the «Church of Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat»), and the «Temple of Basil the Blessed». When these names are listed together^[44][101] the latter name, being informal, is always mentioned second.

The common Western translations «Cathedral of Basil the Blessed» and «Saint Basil’s Cathedral» incorrectly bestow the status of cathedral on the church of Basil, but are nevertheless widely used even in academic literature.^[10] Especially during the 19. century, in English and other languages the Saint Basil’s Cathedral was also called (Cathedral or Church of) Vassili Blagennoi.^{[102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109]}

Sacral and social role[edit]

Miraculous find[edit]

On the day of its consecration the church itself became part of Orthodox thaumaturgy. According to the legend, its «missing» ninth church (more precisely a sanctuary) was «miraculously found» during a ceremony attended by Tsar Ivan IV, Metropolitan Makarius with the divine intervention of Saint Tikhon. Piskaryov’s Chronist wrote in the second quarter of the 17th century:

And the Tsar came to the dedication of the said church with Tsaritsa Nastasia and with Metropolitan Makarius and brought the icon of St Nicholas the Wonderworker that came from Vyatka. And they began to offer a prayer service with sanctified water. And the Tsar touched the base with his own hands. And the builders saw that another sanctuary appeared, and told the Tsar. And the Tsar, and Metropolitan, and all the clergy were surprised by the finding of another sanctuary. And the Tsar ordered it to be dedicated to Nicholas …

Allegory of Jerusalem[edit]

Construction of wrap-around ground-floor arcades in the 1680s visually united the nine churches of the original cathedral into a single building.^[7] Earlier, the clergy and the public perceived it as nine distinct churches on a common base, a generalized allegory of the Orthodox Heavenly City similar to fantastic cities of medieval miniatures.^[7][111] At a distance, separate churches towering over their base resembled the towers and churches of a distant citadel rising above the defensive wall.^[7] The abstract allegory was reinforced by real-life religious rituals where the church played the role of the biblical Temple in Jerusalem:

The capital city, Moscow, is split into three parts; the first of them, called Kitai-gorod, is encircled with a solid thick wall. It contains an extraordinary beautiful church, all clad in shiny bright gems, called Jerusalem. It is the destination of an annual Palm Sunday walk, when the Grand Prince^[112] must lead a donkey carrying the Patriarch, from the Church of Virgin Mary to the church of Jerusalem which stands next to the citadel walls. Here is where the most illustrious princely, noble and merchant families live. Here is, also, the main muscovite marketplace: the trading square is built as a brick rectangle, with twenty lanes on each side where the merchants have their shops and cellars …

— Peter Petreius, History of the Great Duchy of Moscow, 1620^[113]

Templum S. Trinitatis, etiam Hierusalem dicitur; ad quo Palmarum fest Patriarcha asino insidens a Caesare introducitur.
Temple of Holy Trinity, also called Jerusalem, to where the tsar leads the Patriarch, sitting on a donkey, on the Palm Holiday.

— Legend of Peter’s map of Moscow, 1597, as reproduced in the Bleau Atlas^[114]

The last donkey walk (хождение на осляти) took place in 1693.^[115] Mikhail Petrovich Kudryavtsev [ru] noted that all cross processions of the period began, as described by Petreius, from the Dormition Church, passed through St. Frol’s (Saviour’s) Gate and ended at Trinity Cathedral.^[116] For these processions the Kremlin itself became an open-air temple, properly oriented from its «narthex» (Cathedral Square) in the west, through the «royal doors» (Saviour’s Gate), to the «sanctuary» (Trinity Cathedral) in the east.^[116]

Urban hub[edit]

Tradition calls the Kremlin the centre of Moscow, but the geometric centre of the Garden Ring, first established as the Skorodom defensive wall in the 1590s, lies outside the Kremlin wall, coincident with the cathedral.^[117][54] Pyotr Goldenberg (1902–71), who popularized this notion in 1947, still regarded the Kremlin as the starting seed of Moscow’s radial-concentric system,^[118] despite Alexander Chayanov’s earlier suggestion that the system was not strictly concentric at all.^[117]

In the 1960s Gennady Mokeev (born 1932) formulated a different concept of the historical growth of Moscow.^[119] According to Mokeev, medieval Moscow, constrained by the natural boundaries of the Moskva and Neglinnaya Rivers, grew primarily in a north-easterly direction into the posad of Kitai-gorod and beyond. The main road connecting the Kremlin to Kitai-gorod passed through St. Frol’s (Saviour’s) Gate and immediately afterwards fanned out into at least two radial streets (present-day Ilyinka and Varvarka), forming the central market square.^[120] In the 14th century the city was largely contained within two balancing halves, Kremlin and Kitai-gorod, separated by a marketplace, but by the end of the century it extended further along the north-eastern axis.^[121] Two secondary hubs in the west and south spawned their own street networks, but their development lagged behind until the Time of Troubles.^[122]

Tsar Ivan’s decision to build the church next to St. Frol’s Gate established the dominance of the eastern hub with a major vertical accent,^[122] and inserted a pivot point between the nearly equal Kremlin and Kitai-gorod into the once amorphous marketplace.^[123] The cathedral was the main church of the posad, and at the same time it was perceived as a part of the Kremlin thrust into the posad, a personal messenger of the Tsar reaching the masses without the mediation of the boyars and clergy.^[124] It was complemented by the nearby Lobnoye mesto, a rostrum for the Tsar’s public announcements first mentioned in chronicles in 1547^[67] and rebuilt in stone in 1597–1598.^[67] Conrad Bussow, describing the triumph of False Dmitriy I, wrote that on 3 June 1606 «a few thousand men hastily assembled and followed the boyarin with [the impostor’s] letter through the whole Moscow to the main church they call Jerusalem that stands right next to the Kremlin gates, raised him on Lobnoye Mesto, called out for the Muscovites, read the letter and listened to the boyarin’s oral explanation.»^[125]

Replicas[edit]

A scale model of Saint Basil’s Cathedral has been built in Jalainur in Inner Mongolia, near China’s border with Russia. The building houses a science museum.^[126]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• State Historical Museums home page
• https://instagram.com/saint_basils_cathedral/
• VLOG: St Basil’s Cathedral Light Show

Cathedral of the Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat
Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву (Russian)
Saint Basil’s Cathedral as viewed from Red Square
Religion
Affiliation	Russian Orthodox
Ecclesiastical or organizational status	State Historical Museum with church services since 1991
Year consecrated	12 July 1561[1]
Status	Active
Location
Location	Red Square, Moscow, Russia
Shown within Central Moscow
Geographic coordinates	55°45′9″N 37°37′23″E / 55.75250°N 37.62306°ECoordinates: 55°45′9″N 37°37′23″E / 55.75250°N 37.62306°E
Architecture
Architect(s)	Ivan Barma and Postnik Yakovlev[2]
Type	Church
Groundbreaking	1555
Specifications
Height (max)	47.5 metres (156 ft)[3]
Dome(s)	10
Dome height (inner)	ff
Spire(s)	2
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Designated	1990[4]
Reference no.	545
State Party	Russia
Region	Europe
Session	14th
Website
Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed[dead link] State Historical Museum

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собо́р Васи́лия Блаже́нного, tr. Sobór Vasíliya Blazhénnogo), commonly known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral.^[5] It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It was the city’s tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.^[6]

The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, contained eight chapels arranged around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, perceived (as with all churches in Byzantine Christianity) as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City,^[7] was popularly known as the «Jerusalem» and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.^[8]

The cathedral has nine domes (each one corresponding to a different church) and is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky.^[9] Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West, states that «it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from the fifth to the fifteenth century … a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design.»^[10] The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century.^[11]

As part of the program of state atheism, the church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union’s antireligious campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928.^[12] It was completely secularized in 1929,^[12] and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation. The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990.^[13][14] With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, weekly Orthodox Christian services with prayer to St. Basil have been restored since 1997.^[15]

Construction under Ivan IV[edit]

The site of the church had been, historically, a busy marketplace between the St. Fool’s (later Saviour’s) Gate of the Moscow Kremlin and the outlying posad. The centre of the marketplace was marked by the Trinity Church, built of the same white stone as the Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoy (1366–68) and its cathedrals. Tsar Ivan IV marked every victory of the Russo-Kazan War by erecting a wooden memorial church next to the walls of Trinity Church; by the end of his Astrakhan campaign, it was shrouded within a cluster of seven wooden churches. According to the report in Nikon’s Chronicle, in the autumn of 1554 Ivan ordered the construction of the wooden Church of Intercession on the same site, «on the moat».^[16] One year later, Ivan ordered the construction of a new stone cathedral on the site of Trinity Church to commemorate his campaigns. Dedication of a church to a military victory was «a major innovation»^[10] for Muscovy. The placement of the church outside the Kremlin walls was a political statement in favour of posad commoners and against hereditary boyars.^[17]

Contemporary commentators clearly identified the new building as Trinity Church, after its easternmost sanctuary;^[16] the status of «katholikon» (собор, sobor, large assembly church) had not been bestowed on it yet:

On the Trinity on the Moat in Moscow.
In the same year, through the will of czar and lord and grand prince Ivan began making the pledged church, as he promised for the capture of Kazan: Trinity and Intercession and seven sanctuaries, also called «on the moat». And the builder was Barma with company.

The identity of the architect is unknown.^[19] Tradition held that the church was built by two architects, Barma and Postnik:^[19][20] the official Russian cultural heritage register lists «Barma and Postnik Yakovlev».^[2] Researchers proposed that both names refer to the same person, Postnik Yakovlev^[20] or, alternatively, Ivan Yakovlevich Barma (Varfolomey).^[19] Legend held that Ivan blinded the architect so that he could not re-create the masterpiece elsewhere.^[21][22][23] Many historians are convinced that it is a myth, as the architect later participated in the construction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow as well as in building the walls and towers of the Kazan Kremlin.^[24][25] Postnik Yakovlev remained active at least throughout the 1560s.^[26]

There is evidence that construction involved stonemasons from Pskov^[27] and German lands.^[28]

Architectural style[edit]

Because the church has no analog—in the preceding, contemporary, or later architecture of Muscovy and Byzantine cultural tradition, in general,^[10]—the sources that inspired Barma and Postnik are disputed. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc rejected European roots for the cathedral, opining that its corbel arches were Byzantine and ultimately Asian.^[31] A modern «Asian» hypothesis considers the cathedral a recreation of Qolşärif Mosque, which was destroyed by Russian troops after the Siege of Kazan.^[32]

Nineteenth-century Russian writers, starting with Ivan Zabelin,^[7] emphasized the influence of the vernacular wooden churches of the Russian North; their motifs made their ways into masonry, particularly the votive churches that did not need to house substantial congregations.^[33] David Watkin also wrote of a blend of Russian and Byzantine roots, calling the cathedral «the climax» of Russian vernacular wooden architecture.^[34]

The church combines the staggered layered design of the earliest (1505–1508) part of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower,^[35] the central tent of the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530s), and the cylindric shape of the Church of Beheading of John the Baptist in Dyakovo (1547);^[29] but the origin of these unique buildings is equally debated. The Church in Kolomenskoye, according to Sergei Podyapolsky, was built by Italian Petrok Maly,^[28] although mainstream history has not yet accepted his opinion. Andrey Batalov revised the year of completion of Dyakovo church from 1547 to the 1560s–70s, and noted that Trinity Church could have had no tangible predecessors at all.^[36]

Dmitry Shvidkovsky suggested that the «improbable» shapes of the Intercession Church and the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye manifested an emerging national renaissance, blending earlier Muscovite elements with the influence of Italian Renaissance.^[37] A large group of Italian architects and craftsmen continuously worked in Moscow in 1474–1539, as well as Greek refugees who arrived in the city after the fall of Constantinople.^[38] These two groups, according to Shvidkovsky, helped Moscow rulers in forging the doctrine of Third Rome, which in turn promoted assimilation of contemporary Greek and Italian culture.^[38] Shvidkovsky noted the resemblance of the cathedral’s floorplan to Italian concepts by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Donato Bramante, but most likely Filarete’s Trattato di architettura. Other Russian researchers noted a resemblance to sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, although he could not have been known in Ivan’s Moscow.^[39] Nikolay Brunov recognized the influence of these prototypes but not their significance;^[40] he suggested that mid-16th century Moscow already had local architects trained in Italian tradition, architectural drawing and perspective, and that this culture was lost during the Time of Troubles.^[41]

Andrey Batalov wrote that judging by the number of novel elements introduced with Trinity Church, it was most likely built by German craftsmen.^[28] Batalov and Shvidkovsky noted that during Ivan’s reign, Germans and Englishmen replaced Italians, although German influence peaked later during the reign of Mikhail Romanov.^[28] German influence is indirectly supported by the rusticated pilasters of the central church, a feature more common in contemporary Northern Europe than in Italy.^[42]

The 1983 academic edition of Monuments of Architecture in Moscow takes the middle ground: the church is, most likely, a product of the complex interaction of distinct Russian traditions of wooden and stone architecture, with some elements borrowed from the works of Italians in Moscow.^[43] Specifically, the style of brickwork in the vaults is Italian.^[43]

Layout[edit]

Instead of following the original ad hoc layout (seven churches around the central core), Ivan’s architects opted for a more symmetrical floor plan with eight side churches around the core,^[20] producing «a thoroughly coherent, logical plan»^[44][45] despite the erroneous latter «notion of a structure devoid of restraint or reason»^[44] influenced by the memory of Ivan’s irrational atrocities.^[44] The central core and the four larger churches placed on the four major compass points are octagonal; the four diagonally placed smaller churches are cuboid, although their shape is hardly visible through later additions.^[46] The larger churches stand on massive foundations, while the smaller ones were each placed on a raised platform as if hovering above ground.^[47]

Although the side churches are arranged in perfect symmetry, the cathedral as a whole is not.^[48][49] The larger central church was deliberately^[48] offset to the west from the geometric centre of the side churches, to accommodate its larger apse^[48] on the eastern side. As a result of this subtle calculated^[48] asymmetry, viewing from the north and the south presents a complex multi-axial shape, while the western façade, facing the Kremlin, appears properly symmetrical and monolithic.^[48][49] The latter perception is reinforced by the fortress-style machicolation and corbeled cornice of the western Church of Entry into Jerusalem, mirroring the real fortifications of the Kremlin.^[50]

Inside the composite church is a labyrinth of narrow vaulted corridors and vertical cylinders of the churches.^[29] Today the cathedral consists of nine individual chapels.^[51] The largest, central one, the Church of the Intercession, is 46 metres (151 ft) tall internally but has a floor area of only 64 square metres (690 sq ft).^[29] Nevertheless, it is wider and airier than the church in Kolomenskoye with its exceptionally thick walls.^[52] The corridors functioned as internal parvises; the western corridor, adorned with a unique flat caissoned ceiling, doubled as the narthex.^[29]

The detached belfry of the original Trinity Church stood southwest or south of the main structure. Late 16th- and early 17th-century plans depict a simple structure with three roof tents, most likely covered with sheet metal.^[53] No buildings of this type survive to date, although it was then common and used in all of the pass-through towers of Skorodom.^[54] August von Meyenberg’s panorama (1661) presents a different building, with a cluster of small onion domes.^[53]

Structure[edit]

The foundations, as was traditional in medieval Moscow, were built of white stone, while the churches themselves were built of red brick (28 by 14 by 8 cm (11.0 by 5.5 by 3.1 in)), then a relatively new material^[20] (the first attested brick building in Moscow, the new Kremlin Wall, was started in 1485).^[55] Surveys of the structure show that the basement level is perfectly aligned, indicating use of professional drawing and measurement, but each subsequent level becomes less and less regular.^[56] Restorers who replaced parts of the brickwork in 1954–1955 discovered that the massive brick walls conceal an internal wooden frame running the entire height of the church.^[7][57] This frame, made of elaborately tied thin studs, was erected as a life-size spatial model of the future cathedral and was then gradually enclosed in solid masonry.^[7][57]

The builders, fascinated by the flexibility of the new technology,^[58] used red bricks as a decorative medium both inside and out, leaving as much brickwork open as possible; when location required the use of stone walls, it was decorated with a brickwork pattern painted over stucco.^[58] A major novelty introduced by the church was the use of strictly «architectural» means of exterior decoration.^[59] Sculpture and sacred symbols employed by earlier Russian architecture are completely missing; floral ornaments are a later addition.^[59] Instead, the church boasts a diversity of three-dimensional architectural elements executed in brick.

Colour[edit]

The church acquired its present-day vivid colours in several stages from the 1680s^[7] to 1848.^[43] Russian attitude towards colour in the 17th century changed in favour of bright colours; iconographic and mural art experienced an explosive growth in the number of available paints, dyes and their combinations.^[60] The original colour scheme, missing these innovations, was far less challenging. It followed the depiction of the Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation:^[61]

And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats, I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

The 25 seats from the biblical reference are alluded to in the building’s structure, with the addition of eight small onion domes around the central tent, four around the western side church and four elsewhere. This arrangement survived through most of the 17th century.^[62] The walls of the church mixed bare red brickwork or painted imitation of bricks with white ornaments, in roughly equal proportion.^[61] The domes, covered with tin, were uniformly gilded, creating an overall bright but fairly traditional combination of white, red and golden colours.^[61] Moderate use of green and blue ceramic inserts provided a touch of rainbow as prescribed by the Bible.^[61]

While historians agree on the colour of the 16th-century domes, their shape is disputed. Boris Eding wrote that they most likely were of the same onion shape as the present-day domes.^[63] However, both Kolomenskoye and Dyakovo churches have flattened hemispherical domes, and the same type could have been used by Barma and Postnik.^[64]

Development[edit]

1583–1596[edit]

The original Trinity Church burnt down in 1583 and was refitted by 1593.^[43] The ninth sanctuary, dedicated to Basil Fool for Christ (the 1460s–1552), was added in 1588 next to the north-eastern sanctuary of the Three Patriarchs.^[43] Another local fool, Ivan the Blessed, was buried on the church grounds in 1589; a sanctuary in his memory was established in 1672 inside the south-eastern arcade.^[7]

The vault of the Saint Basil Sanctuary serves as a reference point in evaluating the quality of Muscovite stonemasonry and engineering. As one of the first vaults of its type, it represents the average of engineering craft that peaked a decade later in the church of the Trinity in Khoroshovo (completed 1596).^[65] The craft was lost in the Time of Troubles; buildings from the first half of the 17th century lack the refinement of the late 16th century, compensating for poor construction skill with thicker walls and heavier vaults.^[65]

1680–1683[edit]

The second, and most significant, round of refitting and expansion took place in 1680–1683.^[7] The nine churches themselves retained their appearance, but additions to the ground-floor arcade and the first-floor platform were so profound that Nikolay Brunov rebuilt a composite church from an «old» building and an independent work that incorporated the «new» Trinity Church.^[66] What once was a group of nine independent churches on a common platform became a monolithic temple.^[66][67]

The formerly open ground-floor arcades were filled with brick walls; the new space housed altars from thirteen former wooden churches erected on the site of Ivan’s executions in Red Square.^[7] Wooden shelters above the first-floor platform and stairs (the cause of frequent fires) were rebuilt in brick, creating the present-day wrap-around galleries with tented roofs above the porches and vestibules.^[7]

The old detached belfry was demolished; its square basement was reused for a new belltower.^[7] The tall single tented roof of this belltower, built in the vernacular style of the reign of Alexis I, significantly changed the appearance of the cathedral, adding a strong asymmetrical counterweight to the church itself.^[68] The effect is most pronounced on the southern and eastern facades (as viewed from Zaryadye), although the belltower is large enough to be seen from the west.^[68]

The first ornamental murals in the cathedral appeared in the same period, starting with floral ornaments inside the new galleries; the towers retained their original brickwork pattern.^[7] Finally, in 1683, the church was adorned with a tiled cornice in yellow and blue, featuring a written history of the church^[7] in Old Slavic typeface.

1737–1784[edit]

In 1737 the church was damaged by a massive fire and later restored by Ivan Michurin.^[69] The inscriptions made in 1683 were removed during the repairs of 1761–1784. The church received its first figurative murals inside the churches; all exterior and interior walls of the first two floors were covered with floral ornamentation.^[7] The belltower was connected with the church through a ground-floor annex;^[7] the last remaining open arches of the former ground-floor arcade were filled during the same period,^[7] erasing the last hint of what was once an open platform carrying the nine churches of Ivan’s Jerusalem.

1800–1848[edit]

Paintings of Red Square by Fyodor Alekseyev, made in 1800–1802, show that by this time the church was enclosed in an apparently chaotic cluster of commercial buildings; rows of shops «transformed Red Square into an oblong and closed yard.»^[70] In 1800 the space between the Kremlin wall and the church was still occupied by a moat that predated the church itself.^[71] The moat was filled in preparation for the coronation of Alexander I in 1801.^[72] The French troops who occupied Moscow in 1812 used the church for stables and looted anything worth taking.^[69] The church was spared by the Fire of Moscow (1812) that razed Kitai-gorod, and by the troops’ failure to blow it up according to Napoleon’s order.^[69] The interiors were repaired in 1813 and the exterior in 1816. Instead of replacing missing ceramic tiles of the main tent, the Church preferred to simply cover it with a tin roof.^[73]

The fate of the immediate environment of the church has been a subject of dispute between city planners since 1813.^[74] Scotsman William Hastie proposed clearing the space around all sides of the church and all the way down to the Moskva River;^[75] the official commission led by Fyodor Rostopchin and Mikhail Tsitsianov^[76] agreed to clear only the space between the church and Lobnoye Mesto.^[75] Hastie’s plan could have radically transformed the city,^[74] but he lost to the opposition, whose plans were finally endorsed by Alexander I in December 1817^[75] (the specific decision on clearing the rubble around the church was issued in 1816).^[69]

Nevertheless, actual redevelopment by Joseph Bove resulted in clearing the rubble and creating Vasilyevskaya (St. Basil’s) Square between the church and Kremlin wall by shaving off the crest of the Kremlin Hill between the church and the Moskva River.^[77] Red Square was opened to the river, and «St. Basil thus crowned the decapitated hillock.»^[77] Bove built the stone terrace wall separating the church from the pavement of Moskvoretskaya Street; the southern side of the terrace was completed in 1834.^[7] Minor repairs continued until 1848, when the domes acquired their present-day colours.^[43]

1890–1914[edit]

Preservationist societies monitored the state of the church and called for a proper restoration throughout the 1880s and 1890s,^[78][79] but it was regularly delayed for lack of funds. The church did not have a congregation of its own and could only rely on donations raised through public campaigning;^[80] national authorities in Saint Petersburg and local in Moscow prevented financing from state and municipal budgets.^[80] In 1899 Nicholas II reluctantly admitted that this expense was necessary,^[81] but again all the involved state and municipal offices, including the Holy Synod, denied financing.^[81] Restoration, headed by Andrey Pavlinov (died 1898) and Sergey Solovyov, dragged on from 1896^[82] to 1909; in total, preservationists managed to raise around 100,000 roubles.^[81]

Restoration began with replacing the roofing of the domes.^[79] Solovyov removed the tin roofing of the main tent installed in the 1810s and found many original tiles missing and others discoloured;^[79] after a protracted debate the whole set of tiles on the tented roof was replaced with new ones.^[79] Another dubious decision allowed the use of standard bricks that were smaller than the original 16th-century ones.^[83] Restorers agreed that the paintwork of the 19th century must be replaced with a «truthful recreation» of historic patterns, but these had to be reconstructed and deduced based on medieval miniatures.^[84] In the end, Solovyov and his advisers chose a combination of deep red with deep green that is retained to the present.^[84]

In 1908 the church received its first warm air heating system, which did not work well because of heat losses in long air ducts, heating only the eastern and northern sanctuaries.^[85] In 1913 it was complemented with a pumped water heating system serving the rest of the church.^[85]

1918–1941[edit]

During World War I, the church was headed by protoiereus Ioann Vostorgov, a nationalist preacher and a leader of the Black-Hundredist Union of the Russian People. Vostorgov was arrested by Bolsheviks in 1918 on a pretext of embezzling nationalized church properties and was executed in 1919.^{[citation needed]} The church briefly enjoyed Vladimir Lenin’s «personal interest»;^[86] in 1923 it became a public museum, though religious services continued until 1929.^[12]

Bolshevik planners entertained ideas of demolishing the church after Lenin’s funeral (January 1924).^[87] In the first half of the 1930s, the church became an obstacle for Joseph Stalin’s urbanist plans, carried out by Moscow party boss Lazar Kaganovich, «the moving spirit behind the reconstruction of the capital».^[88] The conflict between preservationists, notably Pyotr Baranovsky, and the administration continued at least until 1936 and spawned urban legends. In particular, a frequently-told story is that Kaganovich picked up a model of the church in the process of envisioning Red Square without it, and Stalin sharply responded «Lazar, put it back!» Similarly, Stalin’s master planner, architect Vladimir Semyonov, reputedly dared to «grab Stalin’s elbow when the leader picked up a model of the church to see how Red Square would look without it» and was replaced by pure functionary Sergey Chernyshov.^[89]

In the autumn of 1933, the church was struck from the heritage register. Baranovsky was summoned to perform a last-minute survey of the church slated for demolition, and was then arrested for his objections.^[90] While he served his term in the Gulag, attitudes changed and by 1937 even hard-line Bolshevik planners admitted that the church should be spared.^[91][92] In the spring of 1939, the church was locked, probably because demolition was again on the agenda;^[93] however, the 1941 publication of Dmitry Sukhov’s detailed book^[94] on the survey of the church in 1939–1940 speaks against this assumption.

1947 to present[edit]

In the first years after World War II renovators restored the historical ground-floor arcades and pillars that supported the first-floor platform, cleared up vaulted and caissoned ceilings in the galleries, and removed «unhistoric» 19th-century oil paint murals inside the churches.^[7] Another round of repairs, led by Nikolay Sobolev in 1954–1955, restored original paint imitating brickwork, and allowed restorers to dig inside old masonry, revealing the wooden frame inside it.^[7] In the 1960s, the tin roofing of the domes was replaced with copper.^[12]

The last round of renovation was completed in September 2008 with the opening of the restored sanctuary of St. Alexander Svirsky.^[95] The building is still partly in use today as a museum and, since 1991, is occasionally used for services by the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1997 Orthodox Christian services have been held regularly. Nowadays every Sunday at Saint Basil’s church there is a divine liturgy at 10 a.m. with an Akathist to Saint Basil.^[96][15]

Naming[edit]

The building, originally known as «Trinity Church»,^[10] was consecrated on 12 July 1561,^[12] and was subsequently elevated to the status of a sobor (similar to an ecclesiastical basilica in the Catholic Church, but usually and incorrectly translated as «cathedral»).^[97] «Trinity», according to tradition, refers to the easternmost sanctuary of the Holy Trinity, while the central sanctuary of the church is dedicated to the Intercession of Mary. Together with the westernmost sanctuary of the Entry into Jerusalem, these sanctuaries form the main east–west axis (Christ, Mary, Holy Trinity), while other sanctuaries are dedicated to individual saints.^[98]

Sanctuaries of the cathedral

Compass point[99]	Type[99]	Dedicated to[99]	Commemorates
Central core	Tented church	Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos	Beginning of the final assault of Kazan, 1 October 1552
West	Column	Entry of Christ into Jerusalem	Triumph of the Muscovite troops
North-west	Groin vault	Saint Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia	Capture of Ars Tower of Kazan Kremlin, 30 September 1552
North	Column	Saint Martyrs Cyprian and Justinia (since 1786 Saint Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia)	Complete capture of Kazan Kremlin, 2 October 1552
North-east	Groin vault	Three Patriarchs of Alexandria (since 1680 Saint John the Merciful)	Defeat of Yepancha’s cavalry on 30 August 1552
East	Column	Life-giving Holy Trinity	Historical Trinity Church on the same site
South-east	Groin vault	Saint Alexander Svirsky	Defeat of Yepancha’s cavalry on 30 August 1552
South	Column	The icon of Saint Nicholas from the Velikaya River (Nikola Velikoretsky)	The icon was brought to Moscow in 1555.
South-west	Groin vault	Saint Barlaam of Khutyn	May have been built to commemorate Vasili III of Russia[100]
North-eastern annex (1588)	Groin vault	Basil the Blessed	Grave of venerated local saint
South-eastern annex (1672)	Groin vault	Laying the Veil (since 1680: Nativity of Theotokos, since 1916: Saint John the Blessed of Moscow)	Grave of venerated local saint

The name «Intercession Church» came into use later,^[10] coexisting with Trinity Church. From the end of the 16th century^[67] to the end of the 17th century the cathedral was also popularly called Jerusalem, with reference to its church of Entry into Jerusalem^[7] as well as to its sacral role in religious rituals. Finally, the name of Vasily (Basil) the Blessed, who died during construction and was buried on-site, was attached to the church at the beginning of the 17th century.^[10]

Current Russian tradition accepts two coexisting names of the church: the official^[10] «Church of Intercession on the Moat» (in full, the «Church of Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat»), and the «Temple of Basil the Blessed». When these names are listed together^[44][101] the latter name, being informal, is always mentioned second.

The common Western translations «Cathedral of Basil the Blessed» and «Saint Basil’s Cathedral» incorrectly bestow the status of cathedral on the church of Basil, but are nevertheless widely used even in academic literature.^[10] Especially during the 19. century, in English and other languages the Saint Basil’s Cathedral was also called (Cathedral or Church of) Vassili Blagennoi.^{[102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109]}

Sacral and social role[edit]

Miraculous find[edit]

On the day of its consecration the church itself became part of Orthodox thaumaturgy. According to the legend, its «missing» ninth church (more precisely a sanctuary) was «miraculously found» during a ceremony attended by Tsar Ivan IV, Metropolitan Makarius with the divine intervention of Saint Tikhon. Piskaryov’s Chronist wrote in the second quarter of the 17th century:

And the Tsar came to the dedication of the said church with Tsaritsa Nastasia and with Metropolitan Makarius and brought the icon of St Nicholas the Wonderworker that came from Vyatka. And they began to offer a prayer service with sanctified water. And the Tsar touched the base with his own hands. And the builders saw that another sanctuary appeared, and told the Tsar. And the Tsar, and Metropolitan, and all the clergy were surprised by the finding of another sanctuary. And the Tsar ordered it to be dedicated to Nicholas …

Allegory of Jerusalem[edit]

Construction of wrap-around ground-floor arcades in the 1680s visually united the nine churches of the original cathedral into a single building.^[7] Earlier, the clergy and the public perceived it as nine distinct churches on a common base, a generalized allegory of the Orthodox Heavenly City similar to fantastic cities of medieval miniatures.^[7][111] At a distance, separate churches towering over their base resembled the towers and churches of a distant citadel rising above the defensive wall.^[7] The abstract allegory was reinforced by real-life religious rituals where the church played the role of the biblical Temple in Jerusalem:

The capital city, Moscow, is split into three parts; the first of them, called Kitai-gorod, is encircled with a solid thick wall. It contains an extraordinary beautiful church, all clad in shiny bright gems, called Jerusalem. It is the destination of an annual Palm Sunday walk, when the Grand Prince^[112] must lead a donkey carrying the Patriarch, from the Church of Virgin Mary to the church of Jerusalem which stands next to the citadel walls. Here is where the most illustrious princely, noble and merchant families live. Here is, also, the main muscovite marketplace: the trading square is built as a brick rectangle, with twenty lanes on each side where the merchants have their shops and cellars …

— Peter Petreius, History of the Great Duchy of Moscow, 1620^[113]

Templum S. Trinitatis, etiam Hierusalem dicitur; ad quo Palmarum fest Patriarcha asino insidens a Caesare introducitur.
Temple of Holy Trinity, also called Jerusalem, to where the tsar leads the Patriarch, sitting on a donkey, on the Palm Holiday.

— Legend of Peter’s map of Moscow, 1597, as reproduced in the Bleau Atlas^[114]

The last donkey walk (хождение на осляти) took place in 1693.^[115] Mikhail Petrovich Kudryavtsev [ru] noted that all cross processions of the period began, as described by Petreius, from the Dormition Church, passed through St. Frol’s (Saviour’s) Gate and ended at Trinity Cathedral.^[116] For these processions the Kremlin itself became an open-air temple, properly oriented from its «narthex» (Cathedral Square) in the west, through the «royal doors» (Saviour’s Gate), to the «sanctuary» (Trinity Cathedral) in the east.^[116]

Urban hub[edit]

Tradition calls the Kremlin the centre of Moscow, but the geometric centre of the Garden Ring, first established as the Skorodom defensive wall in the 1590s, lies outside the Kremlin wall, coincident with the cathedral.^[117][54] Pyotr Goldenberg (1902–71), who popularized this notion in 1947, still regarded the Kremlin as the starting seed of Moscow’s radial-concentric system,^[118] despite Alexander Chayanov’s earlier suggestion that the system was not strictly concentric at all.^[117]

In the 1960s Gennady Mokeev (born 1932) formulated a different concept of the historical growth of Moscow.^[119] According to Mokeev, medieval Moscow, constrained by the natural boundaries of the Moskva and Neglinnaya Rivers, grew primarily in a north-easterly direction into the posad of Kitai-gorod and beyond. The main road connecting the Kremlin to Kitai-gorod passed through St. Frol’s (Saviour’s) Gate and immediately afterwards fanned out into at least two radial streets (present-day Ilyinka and Varvarka), forming the central market square.^[120] In the 14th century the city was largely contained within two balancing halves, Kremlin and Kitai-gorod, separated by a marketplace, but by the end of the century it extended further along the north-eastern axis.^[121] Two secondary hubs in the west and south spawned their own street networks, but their development lagged behind until the Time of Troubles.^[122]

Tsar Ivan’s decision to build the church next to St. Frol’s Gate established the dominance of the eastern hub with a major vertical accent,^[122] and inserted a pivot point between the nearly equal Kremlin and Kitai-gorod into the once amorphous marketplace.^[123] The cathedral was the main church of the posad, and at the same time it was perceived as a part of the Kremlin thrust into the posad, a personal messenger of the Tsar reaching the masses without the mediation of the boyars and clergy.^[124] It was complemented by the nearby Lobnoye mesto, a rostrum for the Tsar’s public announcements first mentioned in chronicles in 1547^[67] and rebuilt in stone in 1597–1598.^[67] Conrad Bussow, describing the triumph of False Dmitriy I, wrote that on 3 June 1606 «a few thousand men hastily assembled and followed the boyarin with [the impostor’s] letter through the whole Moscow to the main church they call Jerusalem that stands right next to the Kremlin gates, raised him on Lobnoye Mesto, called out for the Muscovites, read the letter and listened to the boyarin’s oral explanation.»^[125]

Replicas[edit]

A scale model of Saint Basil’s Cathedral has been built in Jalainur in Inner Mongolia, near China’s border with Russia. The building houses a science museum.^[126]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website
• State Historical Museums home page
• https://instagram.com/saint_basils_cathedral/
• VLOG: St Basil’s Cathedral Light Show

Православный собор
Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву (Храм Василия Блаженного) Покровский собор
Покровский собор (вид со стороны Спасской башни Кремля)
Страна	Россия
Город	Москва, Красная площадь
Конфессия	Православие
Епархия	Московская
Тип здания	Собор
Автор проекта	Постник Яковлев (согласно одной из версий)
Основатель	Иван Грозный
Первое упоминание	1554 год
Строительство	1555—1561 годы
Приделы	придел Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы придел Василия Блаженного
Статус	Объект культурного наследия РФ № 7710342000№ 7710342000
Состояние	хорошее
Сайт	Официальный сайт
Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву (Храм Василия Блаженного) на Викискладе

Координаты: 55°45′08.88″ с. ш. 37°37′23″ в. д. / 55.752467° с. ш. 37.623056° в. д. ^{(G) (O) (Я)}

Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву, также называемый Собор Василия Блаженного — православный храм, расположенный на Красной площади Китай-города в Москве. Широко известный памятник русской архитектуры. До XVII века обычно назывался Троицким, так как первоначальный деревянный храм был посвящён Святой Троице; был также известен как «иерусалимский», что связано как с посвящением одного из приделов, так и с совершавшимся в Вербное воскресенье крестным ходом к нему из Успенского собора с «шествием на осляти» Патриарха.

Статус

В настоящее время Покровский собор — филиал Государственного исторического музея. Входит в Список объектов Всемирного наследия ЮНЕСКО в России.

Покровский собор — одна из самых известных достопримечательностей России. Для многих он является символом Москвы, Российской Федерации. Перед собором с 1931 года^[1] размещается бронзовый Памятник Минину и Пожарскому (установлен на Красной площади в 1818 году).

История

Версии о создании

Покровский собор был построен в 1555—1561 годах по приказу Ивана Грозного в память о взятии Казани и победе над Казанским ханством. Существует несколько версий о создателях собора. По одной из версий, архитектором был известный псковский мастер Постник Яковлев по прозвищу Барма. По другой, широко известной версии Барма и Постник — два разных архитектора, оба участвовавших в строительстве; эта версия ныне устарела^[2].^{[источник не указан 1134 дня]} По третьей версии, собор был построен неизвестным западноевропейским мастером (предположительно итальянцем, как и ранее — значительная часть сооружений Московского Кремля), отсюда и столь неповторимый стиль, сочетающий в себе традиции как русского зодчества, так и европейского зодчества эпохи Возрождения, но эта версия пока так и не нашла никакого чёткого документального подтверждения.

Согласно легенде, архитектор (архитекторы) собора были ослеплены по приказу Ивана Грозного, чтобы они не смогли больше построить подобного храма. Однако если автором собора является Постник, то он не мог быть ослеплён, поскольку в течение нескольких лет после строительства собора участвовал в создании Казанского кремля^[3].

Собор в конце XVI — XIX вв.

В 1588 году к храму была пристроена церковь Василия Блаженного, для устройства которой в северо-восточной части собора были заложены арочные проёмы. В архитектурном отношении церковь представляла собой самостоятельный храм с отдельным входом.

В конце XVI века появились фигурные главы собора – взамен первоначального покрытия, сгоревшего во время очередного пожара.

Во второй половине XVII века во внешнем облике собора произошли существенные изменения — окружавшую верхние церкви открытую галерею-гульбище перекрыли сводом, а над белокаменными лестницами возвели крыльца, украшенные шатрами.

Внешняя и внутренняя галерея, площадки и парапеты крылец были расписаны травным орнаментом. Эти обновления были завершены к 1683 году, а сведения о них включены в надписи на керамических изразцах, которыми украсили фасад собора.

Реставрация

Пожары, бывшие частыми в деревянной Москве, сильно вредили Покровскому собору, и поэтому уже с конца XVI в. в нём проводились ремонтные работы. На протяжении более чем четырёхвековой истории памятника подобные работы неизбежно изменяли его облик в соответствии с эстетическими идеалами каждого века. В документах собора за 1737 г. впервые упоминается имя архитектора Ивана Мичурина, под руководством которого проводились работы по восстановлению архитектуры и интерьеров собора после так называемого «Троицкого» пожара 1737 года. Следующие комплексные ремонтные работы были осуществлены в соборе по повелению Екатерины II в 1784 — 1786 гг. Руководил ими архитектор Иван Яковлев. В 1900-е — 1912 годах реставрацию Храма осуществил архитектор С. У. Соловьёв. В 1920-е годы ремонтно-реставрационные работы в храме проводили архитекторы Н. С. Курдюков и А. А. Желябужский.^[4]

Советские годы. Музей

В 1918 году Покровский собор стал одним из первых памятников культуры, взятых под государственную охрану, как памятник национального и мирового значения. С этого момента началась его музеефикация. Первым смотрителем стал протоиерей Иоанн Кузнецов. В послереволюционные годы собор находился в бедственном положении. Во многих местах протекала крыша, были выбиты стекла, зимой даже внутри церквей лежал снег. Иоанн Кузнецов в одиночку поддерживал порядок в соборе.

В 1923 году было принято решение о создании в соборе историко-архитектурного музея. Его первым заведующим стал научный сотрудник Исторического музея Е.И. Силин. 21 мая музей открыли для посетителей. Началось активное комплектование фондов.

В 1928 году музей «Покровский собор» стал филиалом Государственного исторического музея. Несмотря на постоянные реставрационные работы, которые ведутся в соборе уже почти столетие, музей всегда открыт для посетителей. Он закрывался только один раз — во время Великой отечественной войны. В 1929 году в храме были запрещены богослужения, и были сняты колокола. В середине 1930-х гг. храму угрожал снос, однако он избежал разрушения^[5][6]. Cразу же после войны приступили к систематическим работам по восстановлению собора, и 7 сентября 1947 года, в день празднования 800-летия Москвы, музей вновь открылся. Собор приобрел широкую известность не только в России, но и далеко за ее пределами.

С 1991 года Покровский собор находится в совместном пользовании музея и Русской Православной церкви. После длительного перерыва в храме были возобновлены богослужения.

Структура храма

Высота храма составляет 65 метров. Куполов всего 11. Десять куполов над храмом (по числу престолов):

1. Покрова Богородицы (центр.),
2. Св. Троицы (вост.),
3. Входа Господня в Иерусалим (зап.),
4. Григория Армянского (сев.-зап.),
5. Александра Свирского (юго-вост.),
6. Варлаама Хутынского (юго-зап.),
7. Иоанна Милостивого (бывш. Иоанна, Павла и Александра Константинопольских) (сев.-вост.),
8. Николая Чудотворца Великорецкого (юж.),
9. Адриана и Наталии (бывш. Киприана и Иустины) (сев.))
10. Василия Блаженного
11. плюс один купол над колокольней.

Собор состоит из храмов, престолы которых освящены в честь праздников, приходившихся в дни решающих боёв за Казань:

• Троицы,
• в честь свт. Николая Чудотворца (в честь иконы его Великорецкой из Вятки),
• Входа во Иерусалим,
• в честь муч. Адриана и Наталии (первоначально — в честь свв. Киприана и Иустины — 2 октября),
• свт. Иоанна Милостивого (до XVIII — в честь свт. Павла, Александра и Иоанна Константинопольских — 6 ноября),
• Александра Свирского (17 апреля и 30 августа),
• Варлаама Хутынского (6 ноября и 1-я пятница Петрова поста),
• Григория Армянского (30 сентября).

Все эти восемь церквей (четыре осевые, четыре поменьше между ними) увенчаны луковичными главами и сгруппированы вокруг возвышающейся над ними девятой столпообразной церкви в честь Покрова Божией Матери, завершённой шатром с маленькой главкой. Все девять церквей объединены общим основанием, обходной (первоначально открытой) галереей и внутренними сводчатыми переходами.

В 1588 году с северо-востока к собору был пристроен десятый придел, освящённый в честь Василия Блаженного (1469—1552), мощи которого находились на месте постройки собора. Название этого придела дало собору второе, обиходное название. К приделу Василия Блаженного примыкает придел Рождества Пресвятой Богородицы, в котором в 1589 году был погребён блаженный Иоанн Московский (вначале придел был освящён в честь Ризположения, но в 1680 году переосвящён как Рождество-Богородицкий). В 1672 году в нём состоялась обретение мощей Иоанна Блаженного, а в 1916 году он был переосвящён во имя блаженного Иоанна, московского чудотворца. В 1670-х годах построена шатровая колокольня.

Собор неоднократно реставрировался. В XVII веке были добавлены асимметричные пристройки, шатры над крыльцами, затейливая декоративная обработка глав (первоначально они были золотыми), орнаментальная роспись снаружи и внутри (первоначально сам собор был белый).

В главной, Покровской, церкви стоит иконостас из разобранной в 1770 году кремлёвской церкви Черниговских чудотворцев, а в приделе Входа во Иерусалим находится иконостас из разобранного в то же время Александровского собора.

Последний (перед революцией) настоятель собора, протоиерей Иоанн Восторгов, был расстрелян 23 августа (5 сентября) 1919 года. Впоследствии храм был передан в распоряжение обновленческой общины.

Первый этаж

Подклет

В Покровском соборе отсутствуют подвальные помещения. Церкви и галереи стоят на едином основании — подклете, состоящем из нескольких помещений. Прочные кирпичные стены подклета (до 3 м в толщину) перекрыты сводами. Высота помещений — около 6,5 м.

Конструкция северного подклета уникальна для XVI в. Его коробовый свод большой протяженности не имеет поддерживающих столбов. Стены прорезаны узкими отверстиями — продухами. Вместе с «дышащим» строительным материалом — кирпичом — они обеспечивают особый микроклимат помещения в любое время года.

Раньше помещения подклета были недоступны для прихожан. Глубокие ниши-тайники в нем использовали как хранилища. Их закрывали дверями, от которых теперь сохранились петли.

До 1595 года в подклете прятали царскую казну. Зажиточные горожане также приносили сюда свое имущество.

В подклет попадали из верхней центральной церкви Покрова Богоматери по внутристенной белокаменной лестнице. О ней знали только посвященные. Позднее этот узкий ход был заложен. Однако, в процессе реставрации 1930-х гг. была обнаружена потайная лестница.

В подклете находятся иконы Покровского собора. Самая древняя из них — икона св. Василия Блаженного конца XVI в., написанная специально для Покровского собора.

Также экспонируются две иконы XVII в. — «Покров Пресвятой Богородицы» и «Богоматерь Знамение».

Икона «Богоматерь Знамение» является репликой фасадной иконы, расположенной на восточной стене собора. Написана в 1780-е гг. В XVIII—XIX вв. икона находилась над входом в придел Василия Блаженного.

Церковь святого Василия Блаженного

Нижняя церковь была пристроена к собору в 1588 году над захоронением св. Василия Блаженного. Стилизованная надпись на стене повествует о строительстве этой церкви после канонизации святого по повелению царя Федора Иоанновича.

Храм кубической формы, перекрыт крещатым сводом и увенчан небольшим световым барабаном с главкой. Покрытие церкви выполнено в едином стиле с главами верхних церквей собора.

Масляная роспись церкви выполнена к 350-летию начала строительства собора (1905 г.). В куполе изображен Спас Вседержитель, в барабане — праотцы, в перекрестиях свода — Деисус (Спас Нерукотворный, Богоматерь, Иоанн Предтеча), в парусах свода — Евангелисты.

На западной стене представлен храмовый образ «Покров Пресвятой Богородицы». В верхнем ярусе находятся изображения святых покровителей царствующего дома: Федора Стратилата, Иоанна Предтечи, святой Анастасии, мученицы Ирины.

На северной и южной стенах расположены сцены из жития святого Василия Блаженного: «Чудо спасения на море» и «Чудо о шубе». Нижний ярус стен украшает традиционный древнерусский орнамент в виде полотенец.

Иконостас был выполнен в 1895 г. по проекту архитектора А.М. Павлинова. Иконы написаны под руководством знаменитого московского иконописца и реставратора Осипа Чирикова, чья подпись сохранилась на иконе «Спас на престоле».

В состав иконостаса входят более ранние иконы: «Богоматерь Смоленская» XVI в. и местный образ «Св. Василий Блаженный на фоне Кремля и Красной площади» XVIII в.

Над захоронением св. Василия Блаженного установлена арка, украшенная резной сенью. Это одна из почитаемых московских святынь.

На южной стене церкви находится редкая большемерная икона, написанная на металле, — «Богоматерь Владимирская с избранными святыми московского круга «Днесь светло красуется славнейший град Москва» (1904 г.)

Пол покрыт чугунными плитами Каслинского литья.

Церковь Василия Блаженного была закрыта в 1929 г. Лишь в конце XX в. было восстановлено ее декоративное убранство. 15 августа 1997 г., в день памяти Святого Василия Блаженного, в церкви возобновили воскресные и праздничные богослужения.

Второй этаж

Галереи и крыльца

По периметру собора вокруг всех церквей проходит внешняя обходная галерея. Первоначально она была открытой. В середине XIX в. застеклённая галерея стала частью интерьера собора. Арочные входные проемы ведут с внешней галереи на площадки между церквами и соединяют её с внутренними переходами.

Центральную церковь Покрова Богоматери окружает внутренняя обходная галерея. Ее своды скрывают верхние части церквей. Во второй половине XVII в. галерея была расписана растительным орнаментом. Позднее в соборе появилась сюжетная масляная живопись, которая неоднократно обновлялась. В настоящее время на галерее раскрыта темперная роспись. На восточном участке галереи сохранена масляная живопись XIX в. — изображения святых в сочетании с растительным орнаментом.

Резные кирпичные входы, ведущие в центральную церковь, органично дополняют декор . Портал сохранён в своем первоначальном виде, без поздних обмазок, что позволяет увидеть его убранство. Рельефные детали выложены из специально сформованных лекальных кирпичей, а неглубокий декор выполнен резьбой на месте.

Раньше дневной свет проникал в галерею из окон, расположенных над проходами на гульбище. Сегодня её освещают слюдяные фонари XVII в., которые ранее использовали во время крестных ходов. Многоглавые навершия выносных фонарей напоминают изысканный силуэт собора.

Пол галереи выложен из кирпича «в ёлку». Здесь сохранились кирпичи XVI в. — более темные и устойчивые к стиранию, чем современные реставрационные кирпичи.

Свод западного участка галереи перекрыт плоским кирпичным потолком. Он демонстрирует уникальный для XVI в. инженерный приём устройства перекрытия: множество маленьких кирпичиков закреплены известковым раствором в форме кессонов (квадратов), рёбра которых выполнены из фигурного кирпича.

На этом участке пол выложен особым узором в «розетку», а на стенах воссоздана первоначальная роспись, имитирующая кирпичную кладку. Размер нарисованных кирпичей соответствует реальному.

Две галереи объединяют приделы собора в единый ансамбль. Узкие внутренние переходы и широкие площадки создают впечатление «города церквей». Пройдя лабиринт внутренней галереи, можно попасть на площадки крылец собора. Их своды представляют собой «цветочные ковры», хитросплетения которых завораживают и привлекают к себе взоры посетителей.

На верхней площадке правого крыльца перед церковью Входа Господня в Иерусалим сохранились основания столбов или колонн — остатки украшения входа. Это связано с особой ролью церкви в сложной идейной программе посвящений собора.

Церковь Александра Свирского

Юго-восточная церковь освящена во имя преподобного Александра Свирского.

В 1552 г., в день памяти Александра Свирского, состоялась одна из важных битв Казанского похода — разгром конницы царевича Япанчи на Арском поле.

Это одна из четырех малых церквей высотой 15 м. Ее основание — четверик — переходит в невысокий восьмерик и завершается цилиндрическим световым барабаном и сводом.

Первоначальный облик интерьера церкви восстановлен во время реставрационных работ 1920-х и 1979-1980-х гг.: кирпичный пол рисунком в «ёлку», профилированные карнизы, ступенчатые подоконники окон. Стены церкви покрывает роспись, имитирующая кирпичную кладку. В куполе изображена «кирпичная» спираль — символ вечности.

Иконостас церкви реконструирован. Между деревянными балками (тяблами) вплотную друг к другу расположены иконы XVI — начала XVIII в. Нижнюю часть иконостаса закрывают подвесные пелены, искусно вышитые мастерицами. На бархатных пеленах — традиционное изображение Голгофского креста.

Церковь Варлаама Хутынского

Юго-западная церковь освящена во имя преподобного Варлаама Хутынского.

Это одна из четырех малых церквей собора высотой 15,2 м. Ее основание имеет форму четверика, вытянутого с севера на юг со смещением апсиды к югу. Нарушение симметрии в построении храма вызвано необходимостью устройства прохода между малой церковью и центральной — Покрова Богоматери.

Четверик переходит в невысокий восьмерик. Цилиндрический световой барабан перекрыт сводом. Церковь освещает древнейшее в соборе паникадило XV в. Столетием позднее русские умельцы дополнили произведение нюрнбергских мастеров навершием в форме двуглавого орла.

Тябловый иконостас реконструирован в 1920-е гг. и состоит из икон XVI – XVIII вв. Особенность архитектуры церкви — неправильная форма апсиды — определила смещение Царских врат вправо.

Особый интерес представляет отдельно висящая икона «Видение пономаря Тарасия». Она была написана в Новгороде в конце XVI в. Сюжет иконы основан на легенде о видении пономарю Хутынского монастыря бедствий, грозящих Новгороду: наводнения, пожаров, «мора».

Иконописец изобразил панораму города с топографической точностью. В композицию органично включены сцены ловли рыбы, пахоты и сева, повествующие о повседневной жизни древних новгородцев.

Церковь Входа Господня в Иерусалим

Западная церковь освящена в честь праздника Входа Господня в Иерусалим.

Одна из четырех больших церквей представляет собой восьмигранный двухъярусный столп, перекрытый сводом. Храм отличается большими размерами и торжественным характером декоративного убранства.

Во время реставрации открыты фрагменты архитектурного убранства XVI в. Их подлинный вид сохранен без восстановления поврежденных деталей. Древней живописи в церкви не обнаружено. Белизна стен подчеркивает архитектурные детали, исполненные зодчими с большой творческой фантазией. Над северным входом сохранился след от снаряда, попавшего в стену в октябре 1917 г.

Существующий ныне иконостас перенесен в 1770 г. из разобранного собора Александра Невского Московского Кремля. Он богато украшен ажурными оловянными золочеными накладками, которые придают легкость четырехъярусной конструкции. В середине XIX в. иконостас дополнили деревянными резными деталями. Иконы нижнего ряда повествуют о Сотворении мира.

В церкви представлена одна из святынь Покровского собора — икона «Св. Александр Невский в житии» XVII в. Уникальный по иконографии образ происходит, вероятно, из собора Александра Невского.

В среднике иконы представлен благоверный князь, а вокруг него расположены 33 клейма с сюжетами из жития святого (чудесами и реальными историческими событиями: Невской битвой, поездкой князя в ханскую ставку, Куликовской битвой).

Церковь Григория Армянского

Северо-западная церковь собора освящена во имя преподобного Григория, просветителя Великой Армении (ум. в 335 г.). Он обратил в христианство царя и всю страну, был епископом Армении. Его память отмечается 30 сентября (13 октября н.ст.). В 1552 г. в этот день состоялось важное событие похода царя Ивана Грозного — взрыв Арской башни г. Казани.

Одна из четырех малых церквей собора (высотой 15м) представляет собой четверик, переходящий в невысокий восьмерик. Ее основание вытянуто с севера на юг со смещением апсиды. Нарушение симметрии вызвано необходимостью устроить проход между этой церковью и центральной — Покрова Богоматери. Световой барабан перекрыт сводом.

В церкви восстановлено архитектурное убранство XVI в.: древние окна, полуколонны, карнизы, кирпичный пол, выложенный «в елку». Как и в XVII в., стены побелены, что подчеркивает строгость и красоту архитектурных деталей.

Тябловый (тябла — деревянные балки с пазами, между которыми крепили иконы) иконостас реконструирован в 1920-е гг. Он состоит из окон XVI-XVII вв. Царские врата смещены влево — из-за нарушения симметрии внутреннего пространства.

В местном ряду иконостаса — образ святителя Иоанна Милостливого, патриарха Александрийского. Его появление связано с желанием богатого вкладчика Ивана Кислинского переосвятить этот придел в честь своего небесного покровителя (1788 г.). В 1920-е гг. церкви вернули ее прежнее название.

Нижнюю часть иконостаса закрывают шелковые и бархатные пелены с изображением Голгофских крестов. Интерьер церкви дополняют так называемые «тощие» свечи — большие деревянные расписные подсвечники старинной формы. В их верхней части расположено металлическое основание, в которое ставили тонкие свечи.

В витрине находятся предметы священнического облачения XVII в.: стихарь и фелонь, шитые золотными нитями. Особую нарядность церкви придает кандило XIX в., украшенное разноцветной эмалью.

Церковь Киприана и Иустины

Северная церковь собора имеет необычное для русских храмов посвящение во имя христианских мучеников Киприана и Иустины, живших в IV в. Их память отмечается 2 (15 н.ст.) октября. В этот день 1552 г. войска царя Ивана IV взяли штурмом Казань.

Это одна из четырех больших церквей Покровского собора. Ее высота — 20,9 м. Высокий восьмигранный столп завершен световым барабаном и куполом, в котором изображена Богоматерь «Неопалимая Купина». В 1780-е гг. в церкви появилась масляная роспись. На стенах представлены сцены жития святых: в нижнем ярусе — Адриана и Наталии, в верхнем — Киприана и Иустины. Их дополняют многофигурные композиции на тему евангельских притч и сюжеты из Ветхого Завета.

Появление в росписи образов мучеников IV в. Адриана и Наталии связано с переименованием церкви в 1786 г. Богатая вкладчица Наталья Михайловна Хрущева пожертвовала средства на ремонт и просила освятить церковь в честь ее небесных покровителей. Тогда же был выполнен и позолоченный иконостас в стиле классицизма. Он являет собою великолепный образец искусной резьбы по дереву. В нижнем ряду иконостаса изображены сцены Сотворения мира (день первый и четвертый).

В 1920-х гг., в начале научной музейной деятельности в соборе, церкви вернули ее первоначальное название. Недавно она предстала перед посетителями обновленной: в 2007 г. росписи стен и иконостас были отреставрированы при благотворительной поддержке Акционерного общества «Российские железные дороги».

Церковь Николы Великорецкого

Южная церковь освящена во имя Великорецкого образа Николая Чудотворца. Икона святителя была обретена в городе Хлынове на реке Великой и впоследствии получила название «Никола Великорецкий».

В 1555 г. по приказу царя Ивана Грозного принесли чудотворную икону крестным ходом по рекам из Вятки в Москву. Событие большого духовного значения определило посвящение одного из приделов строящегося Покровского собора.

Одна из больших церквей собора представляет собой двухъярусный восьмигранный столп со световым барабаном и сводом. Её высота — 28 м.

Древний интерьер церкви сильно постарадал во время пожара 1737 г. Во второй половине XVIII — начале XIX в. сложился единый комплекс декоративного и изобразительного искусства: резной иконостас с полными чинами икон и монументальная сюжетная роспись стен и свода. В нижнем ярусе восьмерика представлены тексты Никоновской летописи о принесении образа в Москву и иллюстрации к ним.

В верхнем ярусе изображена Богоматерь на престоле в окружении пророков, выше — апостолы, в своде — образ Спаса Вседержителя.

Иконостас богато украшен лепным цветочным декором с золочением. Иконы в узких профилированных рамах написаны маслом. В местном ряду помещен образ «Святитель Николай Чудотворец в житии» XVIII в. Нижний ярус украшен гравировкой по левкасу, имитирующей парчовую ткань.

Интерьер церкви дополняют две выносные двусторонние иконы с изображением святителя Николая. С ними совершали крестные ходы вокруг собора.

В конце XVIII в. пол церкви покрыли белокаменными плитами. Во время реставрационных работ обнаружили фрагмент первоначального покрытия из дубовых шашек. Это единственное место в соборе с сохранившимся деревянным полом.

В 2005—2006 гг. иконостас и монументальную живопись церкви отреставрировали при содействии Московской международной валютной биржи.

Церковь Святой Троицы

Восточная освящена во имя Святой Троицы. Считается, что Покровский собор построен на месте древней Троицкой церкви, по названию которой часто именовали весь храм.

Одна из четырех больших церквей собора представляет собой двухъярусный восьмигранный столп, завершающийся световым барабаном и куполом. Ее высота 21 м. В процессе реставрации 1920-х гг. в этой церкви наиболее полно восстановили древнее архитектурно-декоративное убранство: полуколонны и пилястры, обрамляющие арки-входы нижней части восьмерика, декоративный пояс арочек. В своде купола маломерным кирпичом выложена спираль — символ вечности. Ступенчатые подоконники в сочетании с выбеленной гладью стен и свода делают церковь Троицы особенно светлой и нарядной. Под световым барабаном в стены вмонтированы «голосники» — глиняные сосуды, предназначенные для усиления звука (резонаторы). Церковь освещает старейшее в соборе паникадило русской работы конца XVI в.

На основе реставрационных исследований установлена форма первоначального, так называемого «тяблового» иконостаса («тябла» — деревянные балки с пазами, между которыми крепились иконы вплотную друг к другу). Особенность иконостаса — необычная форма низких царских врат и трехрядные иконы, образующие три канонических чина: пророческий, Деисус и праздничный.

«Троица Ветхозаветная» в местном ряду иконостаса — одна из наиболее древних и почитаемых икон собора второй половины XVI в.

Церковь Трёх Патриархов

Северо-восточная церковь собора освящена во имя трех Патриархов Константинопольских: Александра, Иоанна и Павла Нового.

В 1552 г., в день памяти Патриархов, произошло важное событие Казанского похода — разгром войсками царя Ивана Грозного конницы татарского царевича Япанчи, шедшего из Крыма на помощь Казанскому ханству.

Это одна из четырех малых церквей собора высотой 14,9 м. Стены четверика переходят в невысокий восьмерик с цилиндрическим световым барабаном. Церковь интересна оригинальной системой перекрытия с широким куполом, в котором расположена композиция «Спас Нерукотворный».

Настенная масляная живопись выполнена в середине XIX в. и отражает в своих сюжетах тогдашнее изменение названия церкви. В связи с переносом престола соборной церкви Григория Армянского, она была переосвящена в память просветителя Великой Армении.

Первый ярус росписи посвящен житию святого Григория Армянского, во втором ярусе — история образа Спаса Нерукотворного, принесение его царю Авгарю в малоазийский г. Едессу, а также сцены из жития константинопольских Патриархов.

Пятиярусный иконостас сочетает барочные элементы с классическими. Это единственная в соборе алтарная преграда середины XIX в. Она была выполнена специально для этой церкви.

В 1920-х гг., в начале научной музейной деятельности, церкви вернули ее первоначальное название. Продолжая традиции русских меценатов, руководство Московской Международной Валютной Биржи содействовало реставрации интерьера церкви в 2007 г. Впервые за многие годы посетители смогли увидеть одну из интереснейших церквей собора.

Центральная церковь Покрова Богородицы

Колокольня

Современная колокольня Покровского собора сооружена на месте древней звонницы.

Ко второй половине XVII в. старая звонница обветшала и пришла в негодность. В 1680-х гг. ее сменила колокольня, которая и стоит по сей день.

Основание колокольни представляет из себя массивный высокий четверик, на который поставлен восьмерик с открытой площадкой. Площадка огорожена восемью столбами, соединенными арочными пролетами, и увенчана высоким восьмигранным шатром.

Ребра шатра украшены разноцветными изразцами с белой, желтой, синей и коричневой поливой. Грани покрыты фигурной зеленой черепицей. Завершает шатер небольшая луковичная главка с восьмиконечным крестом. В шатре находятся небольшие окошки — так называемые «слухи», предназначенные для усиления звука колоколов.

Внутри открытой площадки и в арочных проемах на толстых деревянных балках подвешены колокола, отлитые выдающимися русскими мастерами XVII-XIX вв. В 1990 г., после долгого периода молчания, они снова стали использоваться.

См. также

• Храм Спаса на Крови — мемориальный храм памяти Александра II в Петербурге, для которого храм Василия Блаженного послужил одним из образцов

Примечания

Литература

• Гиляровская Н. Храм Василия Блаженного на Красной площади в Москве: Памятник русской архитектуры ХVI—ХVII века. — М.-Л.: Искусство, 1943. — 12, [8] с. — (Массовая библиотека). (обл.)
• Волков А. М. Зодчие: Роман / Послесловие: доктор исторических наук А. А. Зимин; Рисунки И. Година. — Переизд. — М.: Детская литература, 1986. — 384 с. — (Библиотечная серия). — 100 000 экз. (1-е издание — 1954)

Ссылки

• Официальная страница музея Покровского собора
• Трёхмерная модель Покровского собора для Google Earth
• Видеосюжет к юбилею храма

Всего найдено: 58

Добрый день. Пожалуйста, подскажите, как пишется Нотр-Дам и Нотр-Дам де Пари (собор Notre Dame de Paris) — с дефисами и с больших букв, кроме «де»?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Словарная фиксация: Нотр-Дам-де-Пари.

Как правильно писать сложные названия улиц? Например, Ново*соборная площадь, Дальне*ключевская улица. В этих примерах названием выступает прилагательное (ну или это уже существительное?), а значит, вроде бы следует писать слитно: Новособорная, Дальнеключевская, т.к. слова образованы от подчиненных словосочетаний (новый собор, дальний ключ). Однако у нас в городе на картах и на табличках домов названия пишутся через дефис: Дальне-Ключевская, Ново-Соборная. Как же все-таки правильно?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Такие названия пишутся неединообразно: одни из них по традиции принято писать (в том числе на картах и в документах) слитно, другие – через дефис. К тому же со временем написание может меняться. Например, в Москве есть станция метро «Новокузнецкая», но, когда станцию открывали (1943 год), название писалось через дефис: «Ново-Кузнецкая». Поэтому написание названия конкретной улицы лучше уточнить в администрации того населенного пункта, в котором расположена улица.

В ответе на вопрос № 283709 приведен исчерпывающий список первых частей сложных слов с конечным о, пишущихся слитно со второй частью? Часть «греко-» в этот список не входит, соответственно слова греко-римская (борьба), греко-католический (собор), греко-язычное (издание) пишутся через дефис, правильно?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Такой вывод делать нельзя. В том вопросе речь шла о словах с первой иноязычной (интернациональной) частью, это совсем другое правило. А сложные прилагательные, о которых идет речь в Вашем вопросе, могут писаться по-разному, в зависимости от соотношения основ и значения. Ср.: греко-римская борьба, но грекокатолическая церковь; греко-российский (относящийся к связям между Грецией и Россией), но: грекороссийская церковь (православная).

Кафедральный собор Святого Лазаря — правильно ли употреблены строчные и прописные буквы?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Правильно: кафедральный собор Святого Лазаря.

ставить ли кавычки в названии мечети?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Заключаются в кавычки только условные названия: Голубая мечеть, Московская соборная мечеть, но: мечеть «Сердце Чечни».

Здравствуйте. На портале есть такое правило: «В названиях монастырей, храмов, икон пишутся с прописной буквы все слова, кроме родовых наименований (церковь, храм, собор, монастырь, лавра и т. д.) и служебных слов». Тогда получается, что надо писать «часовня Бригитток» и «церковь Францисканцев», что как-то непривычно.

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Нужно различать употребление в составе нарицательного наименования и в составе собственного наименования. Если речь о принадлежности храма, верно: церковь францисканцев, часовня бригитток. В собственных наименованиях (названиях отдельных памятников архитектуры) возможно иное написание.

Здравствуйте, уважаемые сотрудники портала!
Скажите, пожалуйста, «гособоронзаказ» нужно писать с большой или маленькой буквы?
С уважением
Вероника Ушакова.

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Это слово пишется с маленькой буквы: гособоронзаказ.

Здравствуйте! Помогите, пожалуйста, решить такой вопрос: почему два храма, названия которых произошли от однотипных словосочетаний, пишутся по-разному? Речь идет вот о чем: Христорождественский собор (от Рождество Христово) и Рождество-Богородицкая церковь (от Рождество Богородицы). Почему в одном случае есть дефис, в другом — нет? И есть ли правило, по которому образуются такие названия?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Ответ есть в Вашем вопросе: Христов(о) — притяжательное прилагательное, тогда как Богородиц(ы) — существительное.

Объясните, пожалуйста, разницу в использовании прописных букв в названиях типа Реквием Моцарта и полонез Огинского.

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Общее правило таково: в названиях произведений искусства с прописной буквы пишется первое слово и собственные имена, напр.: Ленинградская симфония Шостаковича, Лунная соната Бетховена. На основании этого же правила с прописной буквы пишется Реквием как первое слово названия музыкального произведения – Реквием Моцарта, Реквием Верди (т. е. Реквием здесь – собственное наименование).

Однако к этому правилу есть примечание: начальное родовое наименование в подобных названиях пишется со строчной буквы: полонез Огинского (ср.: памятник Пушкину, собор Святого Петра). Т. е. полонез здесь – родовое название произведения, а не собственное наименование.

Подскажите, разве слово «ратуша» в значении архитектурного памятника пишется с прописной буквы, а не со строчной в предложении «Они договорились встретиться около старой городской Ратуши».
Ссылаюсь на определение Орфографического словаря на вашем сайте:
Орфографический словарь
ратуша, -и, тв. -ей (орган городского самоуправления, ист.) и
Ратуша, -и, тв. -ей (архит. памятник в нек-рых городах)

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

В приведенном Вами примере вернее будет написание строчными. Написание с прописной уместно, если на первый план выдвигается информация именно о памятнике, о достопримечательности, напр.: Главные достопримечательности Риги: Домский собор, Ратуша, Рижский замок.

Здравствуйте! Скажите, пожалуйста, верно ли встречающееся в литературе словосочетание «пятиглавые купола» — или можно сказать только «пятиглавый собор«?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

В храмовой архитектуре «главами» как раз и называются купола в форме луковицы. Поэтому сочетание «пятиглавые купола» лексически избыточно, некорректно.

Здравствуйте.
Недавно я задавала вопрос по поводу дефисов в названиях церквей. В качестве примера приводила церковь Санта-Мария дель Фьорра.
Верно ли я понимаю: если названия начинается с «Санта», то дефис ставится, а если с «Сан» и «Сент» — нет?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Первые части Сан-, Сент- в названиях церквей, соборов тоже присоединяются дефисами, например: Сан-Пьетро ин Винколи, Сан-Лоренцо, Сан-Марко, Сент-Шапель.

Зжравствуйте, подскажите, пожалуйста,
Покровский собор, или храм Василия Блаженного, —- это выдающийся памятник русской архитектуры.
Нужно ли эти две запятые в этом предложении?
Заранее спасибо.

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Да, пояснительный оборот обособлен верно.

Пожалуйста, напомните, склоняются ли женские фамилии, оканчивающиеся на -а? Например, Сикора, Собора и т.п.?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Такие фамилии нужно склонять.

Кафедральный собор — первое слово пишется со строчной или прописной буквы?

Ответ справочной службы русского языка

Это словосочетание пишется строчными буквами.