St. Basil's Cathedral
Nine painted chapels crowd together at the southern edge of Red Square, forming the most recognisable skyline in Russia.
About
Few buildings are so instantly tied to a place. Rising from the cobbles beside the Kremlin wall, the cathedral is not one tall church but a cluster: eight chapels ring a taller central tower, each topped with its own dome, striped, spiralled or faceted in a different pattern and colour.
Step inside and the surprise is how small and intimate it feels. Instead of a single great nave, narrow vaulted passages wind between the chapels, and walls are covered in floral ornament. It now operates as a museum, with occasional services held in one of the side chapels.
Come early and the square is quiet enough to walk its full length and watch the domes catch the morning light; after dark they are floodlit and the whole scene turns warm and gold.
History
Construction began in the 1550s on the orders of Tsar Ivan IV, to mark the capture of Kazan. Each chapel is traditionally linked to a feast day on which a battle was won. Over the centuries the building gained a bell tower and brighter paint, and it was restored several times in the twentieth century. It is protected as part of the Kremlin and Red Square ensemble. In 1588 a chapel was added over the grave of Basil the Blessed, a holy fool revered in Moscow, which gave the cathedral the name by which it is known today. Its official name is the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat. It became a branch of the State Historical Museum in 1928.
UNESCO World Heritage: Inscribed 1990.