--- description: The Moscow icon celebrates a big anniversary title: Happy 450th Birthday, St. Basil's Cathedral image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) # Happy 450th Birthday, St. Basil's Cathedral by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 12, 2011 4:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Jul 12, 2011 4:00 AM CUT The Moscow icon celebrates a big anniversary ### Unmistakable  St. Basil's Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, was consecrated on July 12, 1561\. The church, seen here in an 1823 painting, was constructed to commemorate Czar Ivan IV's capture of the cities of Kazan and Astrakhan. Corbis ### Mythmaker  Legend has it that after St. Basil's, originally known as Trinity Church, was completed, Ivan IV had its architect blinded so that nothing like it could be built again. The above is an 1867 artwork called The Procession of Clergy Outside Moscow's City Walls. Corbis ### Onions with Many Layers  The architectural inspiration for the church remains a mystery. Differing scholars cite Italian, German and Asian influences. Corbis ### Time Marches On  A Soviet cavalry parades through Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941\. Though the communists tore down many churches in Russia during their rule, they did not dare touch St. Basil's; it was too much of a cherished national symbol. In 1929, the building was secularized as part of the State Historical Museum, which stands at the opposite end of Red Square. The Dmitri Baltermants Collection / Corbis ### Red Square  Vladimir Lenin's tomb, on the right in this photo, stands not far from the Cathedral on . The entire area, along with the adjacent Kremlin, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990. Peter Turnley / Corbis ### The In Color  When the cathedral was constructed, red bricks were still a new building material in Russia — the first Moscow structure built with red brick was the new Kremlin Wall in 1485. Roger Ressmeyer / Corbis ### Service  The interior spaces of the building are extremely cramped and narrow, able to accommodate only a small number of visitors. In this photo, worshippers watch Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill conduct a religious service on July 12, 2011 — the church's 450th anniversary. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP ### Museum Piece  Many parts of the interior remain plain brick. Here, a visitor stands near St. Basil's shrine cover. Maxim Shipenkov / EPA ### A New Age  St. Basil's has survived several fires, Napoleon's occupation, the Russian Revolution and Nazi bombs. Now a museum, it has opened parts of its interior after a long restoration as it celebrates its 450th anniversary. Keren Su / Corbis Photos: St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia Turns 450 - TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7075580/happy-450th-birthday-st-basils-cathedral/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7075580/happy-450th-birthday-st-basils-cathedral/"},"headline":"Happy 450th Birthday, St. Basil's Cathedral","datePublished":"2011-07-12T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T10:46:00.461Z","description":"The Moscow icon celebrates a big anniversary","url":"https://time.com/archive/7075580/happy-450th-birthday-st-basils-cathedral/","keywords":["LightBox"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7075580/happy-450th-birthday-st-basils-cathedral/","name":"Happy 450th Birthday, St. Basil's Cathedral"}}]}] ```