⛪ St. Basil's Cathedral
Russia
About This Sacred Site
St. Basil's Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, stands at one end of Red Square in Moscow. Commissioned by Ivan the Terrible in 1555 to celebrate the capture of Kazan, its nine wildly colorful onion domes have become the enduring symbol of Russia. Each dome crowns a separate chapel, and the interior is a maze of narrow corridors decorated with restored 16th-century frescoes.
Key Facts
- •Built between 1555 and 1561 under orders from Ivan the Terrible
- •Legend says the architects were blinded so they could never replicate the design
- •The cathedral contains nine individual chapels linked by a labyrinth of corridors
- •Napoleon reportedly wanted to relocate it to Paris but settled for trying to blow it up
- •Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990 as part of the Kremlin and Red Square
Location
Coordinates: 55.7525, 37.6231
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