The main cathedral on Red Square - St. Basil's Cathedral - is a world-famous monument of Russian church architecture. Included in the register of World Heritage Sites under the auspices of UNESCO. Its other name is Pokrovsky Cathedral.
Another cathedral on Red Square, Kazan, is located on the corner of Nikolskaya Street, near the Mint. This temple has its own history. Moscow Cathedrals on Red Square were built at different times and each of them is interesting and famous in its own way.
Many Muscovites and guests of the capital believe that there are not two cathedrals on Red Square, but much more. This opinion is erroneous, since other masterpieces of Russian temple architecture, although visible from Red Square, are located behind the Kremlin wall, on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. Thus, the answer to the question of how many cathedrals on Red Square is unambiguous.
The center of Moscow is characterized by an abundance of architectural monuments.
Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, the photo of which is presented in this article, is located opposite the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, at the beginning of Vasilyevsky Descent. Nearby is the bronze memorial of Minin and Pozharsky, erected in 1818.
Cathedral of the Intercession on Red Square is the most grandiose attraction in Moscow. Groups of tourists and individual visitors spend hours walking through galleries. And if you ask a Japanese, Frenchman or Dane about which cathedral on Red Square they liked more, they will not hesitate to call the Cathedral of the Intercession. Muscovites will say the same.
Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square is an unrivaled masterpiece of temple architecture in the mid-16th century, built in honor of the great event that took place in Russia in October 1552 - the capture of Kazan and the victory over the Kazan Khanate. Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered to build such a church, "which there can be no resemblance." This "church" was the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, which was built in six years, from 1555 to 1561. Later, several extensions of a cult character were made.
Structure
The architects Barma and Postnik created the design of the cathedral, consisting of a central pillar and eight chapels, which they placed on the cardinal points, in accordance with the canons of church construction of that time:
- The central pillar is the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
- To the east is the chapel of the Holy Trinity.
- To the west - the chapel "The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem."
- To the north-west is the chapel of "Gregory the Catalikos of Armenia."
- To the southeast - the side chapel of "Svirsky Alexander".
- To the south-west is the chapel of Varlaam Khutynsky.
- To the north-east is the chapel of "John the Merciful".
- To the south is the chapel of "Nicholas the Wonderworker."
- To the north is the aisle of Cyprian and Ustinha.
There are no basements in the cathedral, the foundation is a fundamental basement, the arches of which rest on three-meter-thick brick walls. Until 1595, the basement of the Intercession Cathedral was used to store the royal treasury. In addition to gold, the most valuable icons were located in the vaults.
The second floor of the temple is directly all the aisles and the central pillar of the Intercession of the Virgin, surrounded by a gallery, from which you can get through arched entrances to all rooms, as well as go from one church to another.
Church of Svirsky Alexander
The chapel of the southeast direction was consecrated in the name of Alexander Svirsky, the reverend. On the day of his memory, in 1552, one of the decisive battles of the Kazan campaign took place - the defeat of the cavalry of the Khan Tsarevich Yapanchi.
The Church of Alexander Svirsky is one of four small chapels, consisting of a lower quad with an octagon and a drum with windows. The chapel is crowned with a dome with a cross.
Church of Barlaam of Hutyn
The church of Varlaam of Khutyn, the reverend, was consecrated in his name. The quadrangle at the base passes into a low octagon and then into the dome top. The apse of the church is shifted towards the Royal Gate. The interior includes a fishing iconostasis with icons of the 16th century, among which the Novgorod icon "Vision of Tarasia, the Sexton" stands out.
Church "Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem"
The Western side chapel is consecrated in honor of the "Entry into Jerusalem" holiday. A large church in the form of a two-tiered octagonal pillar, the transition from the third tier to the drum is carried out with the help of an intermediate belt of kokoshniks located "in a circle".
The interior is rich in decorative character, not without solemnity. The iconostasis is inherited from the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, previously located in the Moscow Kremlin. The four-tier plumbing structure is decorated with gilded plates and carved rosewood details. The bottom row of icons tells of the Creation of the world.
Church of St. Gregory, Kotalikos Armenian
The aisle facing the northwest is consecrated in the name of the enlightener of Armenia. A small church, a quadrangle with a transition to a low octagon with three tiers of kokoshniks "made up of silver", taken from the cross-domed style of cubic temples of the second half of the 15th century. A dome of a peculiar form, diamond-shaped protrusions are drawn by a "grid" of dark green stripes.
The iconostasis is diverse, in the lower row there are velvet sheets and the crosses of Golgotha are depicted on them. The interior of the church is full of "skinny" candles - wooden candlesticks, into which thin church candles were inserted . On the walls there are display cases with vestments for priests, felon and crib, embroidered with gold. In the center is a mandilo decorated with enamel.
Church of Cyprian and Ustinha
Large church facing north. On the day of remembrance of Cyprian and Ustinha, the tsarist army stormed Kazan. The octagonal pillar with pediments passes through the tier of kokoshniks into a faceted drum. The dome, composed of vertical fractions of blue and white, crowns the pillar. The interior of the church consists of a carved iconostasis and numerous wall paintings with scenes of the lives of saints.
The church was restored many times, the last update dates back to 2007, financial support came from JSC Russian Railways.
Aisle of Nikola Velikoretsky
The aisle facing south was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, named Velikoretsky in honor of the icon found in Hlynov on the Great River. The church is a two-tier octagonal pillar with pediments that turn into a row of kokoshniks. An octahedron crowned with a head with an Orthodox cross rises above the kokoshniks. The dome of the church is painted, carries wavy stripes of red and white.
Church of the Holy Trinity
Another large aisle of the Intercession Cathedral, facing east, was consecrated in the name of the Great Trinity. The two-tier pillar of an octagonal configuration, framed by pointed gables on the lower tier, surrounded by kokoshniks in the middle and crowned with an octagon with a dome, is the most colorful in the entire composition of St. Basil's Cathedral.
Aisle of the "Three Patriarchs"
The east-facing chapel is consecrated in honor of the three patriarchs of Constantinople: John, Paul and Alexander. It features a large five-tiered iconostasis of the Baroque type, with icons of the local row, deesis, life with stamps. The interior was renovated in 2007.
St. Basil
In 1588, the cathedral on Red Square was completed from the northeast side. To the pillar of "Gregory of Armenia" added a chapel in honor of St. Basil, who died in 1552, whose remains were buried just at the site of the construction of the cathedral.
The Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, in addition to its architectural and historical value, also has sacred features in terms of religious burials. In 1589, John of Moscow was buried in the basement of the cathedral. In 1672, the relics of St. John the Blessed, the miracle worker of Moscow, were buried in the Intercession Cathedral.
Kazan Cathedral on Red Square
In 1625, a wooden Church of Our Lady of Kazan was built on Nikolskaya Street at the expense of Moscow Prince Pozharsky. Nine years later, the Kazan Church burned down and a stone Kazan Cathedral was erected in its place. This time the construction of the temple was paid by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, and the new building was consecrated in 1636 by Patriarch Joasaph the First.
During the Stalinist reconstruction of Manege Square, the cathedral was demolished, this happened in 1936. The Temple of Our Lady of Kazan was recreated in the early nineties, at the initiative of the Moscow Society for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Currently, Kazan Cathedral, located on Red Square, is one of the most noticeable masterpieces of Moscow temple architecture.