CHURCH, MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Cathedral of Saint Basil the Blessed
Saint Basil the Blessed, also called Pokrovsky Cathedral, Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny or Pokrovsky Sobor, church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny St. Basil the Beatified after Basil, the Russian holy fool who was ââ¬Åidiotic for Christââ¬â¢s sakeââ¬Â and who was buried in the church vaults during the reign 1584ââ¬â98 of Tsar Fyodor I.
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