St Basil’s Cathedral, Russia

The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, also known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Moscow's Red Square and one of the country's most well-known cultural landmarks. The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, or Pokrovsky Cathedral, is the official name of the edifice, which is now a museum. It was constructed under Ivan the Terrible's instructions between 1555 and 1561 to commemorate the conquering of Kazan and Astrakhan. Until the Ivan the Great Bell Tower was completed in 1600, it was the city's tallest structure.

The initial structure, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral, had eight chapels organized around a ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession; in 1588, a 10 chapel was built over the burial of the beloved local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the church, which was regarded as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City (as were all churches in Byzantine Christianity), was dubbed "Jerusalem" and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar.

Saint Basil's Cathedral was stolen from the Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union's anti-religious operations, and it has been operated as a component of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was totally secularized in 1929 and is now a Russian Federation state property. Since 1990, the church has been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square. Weekly Orthodox Christian services including a prayer to St. Basil have been resumed since 1997, following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Location: Red Square, Moscow, Russia