A Scaled Model of St. Basil's Cathedral



continue	The History of St. Basil's Cathedral Like the most famous of those older structures, the Church of the Transfiguration at Kizha, Saint Basil’s is actually a cluster of buildings--a central church surrounded by nine auxiliary churches, eight dedicated to Ivan IV’s eight victories over the Tatars and a ninth consecrated to Moscow’s holy beggar, Saint Basil. Its whitewashed exterior was painted in its present rainbow hues in the seventeenth century---a departure that prompted the Marquis de Custine, a saturnine and openly critical visitor to Moscow, to liken Saint Basil’s to a box of glazed fruit. Another critic labeled the church “the dream of a diseased imagination.” These contemptuous foreigners failed to realize what modern art critics readily acknowledge-namely that Saint Basil’s combines the vibrant palette, bold patterns, and unrestrained exuberance that are the quintessence of Russian folk art.

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The History of

St. Basil's Cathedral

Like the most famous of those older structures, the Church of the Transfiguration at Kizha, Saint Basil’s is actually a cluster of buildings--a central church surrounded by nine auxiliary churches, eight dedicated to Ivan IV’s eight victories over the Tatars and a ninth consecrated to Moscow’s holy beggar, Saint Basil. Its whitewashed exterior was painted in its present rainbow hues in the seventeenth century---a departure that prompted the Marquis de Custine, a saturnine and openly critical visitor to Moscow, to liken Saint Basil’s to a box of glazed fruit. Another critic labeled the church “the dream of a diseased imagination.” These contemptuous foreigners failed to realize what modern art critics readily acknowledge-namely that Saint Basil’s combines the vibrant palette, bold patterns, and unrestrained exuberance that are the quintessence of Russian folk art.