St Basil Cathedral Guided Tour with Red Square - Moscow

  • duration: 1 hours
  • price: 40 €
  • order: Book

What You Will See on St Basil Cathedral Tour

St Basil Cathedral is one of the highlights of Moscow. During your guided private tour you will enjoy architectural forms of the ancient Moscow. The cathedral has unusual standards. Nine churches are set on a lofty pedestal; eight of them are grouped round the central Church of the Intercession whose hipped roof towers are above the others.

In 1588 a local Saint- Basil the Blessed was buried in the north-east corner of the cathedral. A tenth church dedicated to St. Basil was added to the existing structure directly above his tomb and since then the whole ensemble is commonly referred to as the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.

The walls and vaults of the Cathedral are covered with frescoes and oil paintings with plant ornament and images of saints. The museum temporary exhibition presents rare examples of ancient Russian icon‐painting school and masterpieces of applied art.

St Basil the Blessed Cathedral Moscow

It has seven domes, each of a different color. The inner gallery also contains amazing wall and ceiling paintings: stylized flower patterns of unique shapes and bright colors. This Cathedral is a masterpiece of Russian Architecture.

Details of the Tour

St. Basil Cathedral Tour last for 1 hour and during this time you will learn:

  • why Ivan IV was given a nick name “Terrible”;
  • what is the twin brother Cathedral to St. Basil Cathedral;
  • the features and symbols of the Russian Architecture;
  • who was that saint- Basil (Vasily) whose name the Cathedral bears;

The History of St Basil Cathedral

It was built by the order of Ivan IV, the Terrible and with the blessing of Metropolitan Macarius.

The Cathedral was designed by Russian masters and was built of brick in traditional Russian style.

The cathedral was meant to commemorate an important even- the victory of the Russian Army over Kazan Khanate and final liberation from the Tartar-Mongol Yoke. As a result of which the Russian lands were united round Moscow as their capital.

The building is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky, a design that has no parallel in the Russian architecture.

Red Square St Basil Cathedral

The builders used brick 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.

There is a legend that says that Ivan the Terrible asked the builders if they could build anything finer than they had already done. When they answered that they could, he ordered that they be blinded so that there would never be anything more beautiful in the world than the Cathedral of Basil (Vasily) the Blessed.

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