St Basil’s Cathedral. Perhaps the most iconic building in Russia.
Commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to celebrate the capture of the Mongol stronghold of Kazan in 1552,
and completed in 1561. According to legend, Ivan was so amazed at the beauty of the cathedral that
he had the architect blinded so he wouldn’t be able to design anything so exquisite again.
Properly called the Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat,
or Cathedral of St Vasily the Blessed, but popularly known as St Basil’s Cathedral.
The church was confiscated from the Russian Orthodox community during the Soviet Union era
and has been a museum ever since.