Moscow, at the Cathedral of St. Basil

 

In the South of the Red Square stood a colorful cathedral with onion shape domes, it was the first time I saw such cathedral. Red bricks with white-stone ornaments mixed with vibrant swirling patterns in green, blue and red of the domes. At first look people might mistook it as a Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland. 

But it is no Disneyland fantasy, it is a church loaded with history and devotion, it is the Cathedral of St. Basil. It was built in the 16th century by order of Russian Tsar Ivan IV to fulfill his vow to have a church built for his victorious conquests of Kazan. He intended to build the church on a scale reflecting the importance of his victory of Kazan, which not only eliminated a troublesome Kazan, but also opened a vast area for colonization and trade. 

The cathedral is not one large space, it consists of 11 small churches, one of them built over the grave of St Basil. The churches are connected with the labyrinth of narrow corridors with arched roofs, beautifully decorated with colorful flower patterns symbolizing the heavenly garden. Each church looks like a vase, a narrow room with a high ceiling.  Perhaps this shape made the acoustics amazing, we can hear clearly hymns and chants sung in other room, the sound of their voices was divine. 

The cathedral of St. Basil is so impressive that legend has it that supposedly Tsar Ivan IV blinded the cathedral’s architects so that the designs of this new and impressive structure could not be replicated in any other buildings. Although this cannot be verified, it aligns with what is known of his complex personality and his severe temperament, his harsh treatment of Russian nobility, his people and servants. There are notes of his mental outbreaks, with one tragic instance, he accidentally killed his own son during an argument. Because of his cruelty and temper, he is also known as Ivan the Terrible. 

The legacy of the cathedral built to memorize Tsar Ivan IV’s victories in Kazan has been overshadowed by Basil, known as a beggar, a “Fool for Christ”, a prophetic voice of conscience clothed in rags, buried under the Cathedral. Basil and the Tzar had a complicated relationship. The strong and vicious Tsar Ivan IV did not dare to trample the beggar who stood in his way, the entire population of Moscow hung on the beggar’s every word and action, revering him as a prophet. The Tsar once showered Basil with gifts, wanting to test if Basil was tempted by wealth.  Basil accepted the gifts but promptly gave away all of them to the first needy person he met. When Basil died in 1557, the Tsar Ivan IV himself was among the pallbearers  to bring his body to its resting place: now known as the Cathedral of St. Basil. 

 

THE END

 

SOURCES:

https://nationsmedia.org/basil-the-holy-fool/

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/st-basils-cathedral-architecture-and-history#what-is-st-basils-cathedral

 

Moscow, at the Red Square

 

For us knowing Red Square in Moscow from the Red Army parade at the square to commemorate the October Revolution it can’t be helped that our image of the Red Square is that of the Red Army, communism and blood. So, if we come there we would expect to see a cold square with monuments of Lenin, or Stalin or Marx, along with red communist propaganda posters and banners, something like that. How wrong are we. 

When we come from Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station to the Red Square we enter through the front gate of the city from the side of Tverskaya street and Manezhnaya Square. This is the Kilometer Zero of Moscow, it has red brick color walls with white linings and two archways. In the inside of the gate there is an icon depicting the resurrection of Christ, therefore the gate is named the Resurrection Gate. Ironically the gate has been demolished and resurrected a number of times, first appeared in 1534 and was reconstructed in 1680, torn down by Stalin to make way for large-scale Soviet ceremonies in the square. The Gate was once again assembled between 1994 and 1995.

Going further, we can see a huge department store in the late 19^th century Russian Architecture. It is the GUM (Glawny Uniwersalny Magasin) Department Store, occupying the majority of the Red Square’s East side flanked by Nikolskaya and Ilyinka streets. It is the largest in Russia, selling luxury goods with walls in intricate forms, with abundance of decor, composition and picturesque glass windows and roofs. But we should know that Red Square originally began as a slum, a shanty town of wooden huts clustered beneath the Kremlin walls that housed a collection of peddlers, criminals and drunks whose status left them outside the official boundaries of the medieval city. It was cleared on the orders of Ivan III at the end of the 1400's, but remained the province of the mob, the site of public executions, and rabble rousing, until much later. Today GUM stands brightly at the side of Red Square presenting itself to the locals and visitors as a noble shopping center characterised by boutiques in the upper price ranges. 

In front of the GUM Shopping Mall stands a cathedral with various colorful onion shaped cupolas, it is St Basil cathedral, the iconic building of Russia, and is probably the first image that comes to mind when people visit Russia.  The cathedral’s fame might be due to its distinctive, eccentric design, the 10 onion shaped cupolas with the vibrant clash of colors. 

At the center of the square we can see a multi-tiered pyramid building, which is Lenin Mausoleum. Made of granite and labradorite, it shows the character of the mausoleum as a monumental burial place, designed by the renowned architect Alexey Shchusev. Inside the mausoleum, the lavishly embalmed corpse of Vladimir Lenin rests in an armored glass sarcophagus. To this day, the mausoleum is open to visitors on certain days. 

The Red Square ('Krasnaya Ploschad' in Russian), is indeed dominated by the brick red color of the buildings in the square, so perhaps that is why many of us associated the Red Square name with the color of the buildings there. Many people also believe that Red Square is so named because communism and Russia are associated with the color red, even further associated with blood(shed). But, actually the word Krasnaya originally means beautiful in old Russian language but now in modern times it means ‘red’. Therefore, common assumptions that the 'Red' in Red Square referred to the red brick colour of the buildings, Communism, or even bloodshed - are misunderstood. 

The Red Square is indeed a beautiful square, with beautiful churches overshadowing the Lenin Monument, and the privately-run luxurious GUM Department Store overshadowing the socialistic way of the country. And it is a pity that the image of this square is misrepresented by the military parades of the Red Army broadcasted on television worldwide.

  

THE END

 

Sources:

https://www.local-life.com/moscow/articles/red-square