Maybe it comes from growing up in the United States, where the oldest buildings are "only" three hundred years old, but I was blown away by St. Basil's interior.
I always wondered what the heck was under those domes. The answer? Small chapels, maybe 6 x 10 feet, one wall of which is covered ... Read review
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Advantages: Will you ever stand in an older building? Disadvantages: Lacks explanatory material
Maybe it comes from growing up in the United States, where the oldest buildings are "only" three hundred years old, but I was blown away by St. Basil's interior.
I always wondered what the heck was under those domes. The answer? Small chapels, maybe 6 x 10 feet, one wall of which is covered by an iconostasis. The inside of the onion dome itself is not visible; instead, the ceiling is rounded off and plastered white, except ... ...decorative pattern, such as a spiral. The chapels are connected by a narrow passageway that runs along the outside of the cathedral. You can see into the passage but it is closed off.
Yes, you can photograph the inside. When you buy your ticket, you can pay a little extra to take pictures. I went in without doing this, and on seeing the startling bright murals in the entry room, immediately realized my mistake and went back out to ... more
Maybe it comes from growing up in the United States, where the oldest buildings are "only" three hundred years old, but I was blown away by St. Basil's interior.
I always wondered what the heck was under those domes. The answer? Small chapels, maybe 6 x 10 feet, one wall of which is covered by an iconostasis. The inside of the onion dome itself is not visible; instead, the ceiling is rounded off and plastered white, except for some bricking which is left bare to form a decorative pattern, such as a spiral. The chapels are connected by a narrow passageway that runs along the outside of the cathedral. You can see into the passage but it is closed off.
Yes, you can photograph the inside. When you buy your ticket, you can pay a little extra to take pictures. I went in without doing this, and on seeing the startling bright murals in the entry room, immediately realized my mistake and went back out to purchase a photography pass.
The entry level is dim with low ceilings. There are brightly painted murals captioned in ancient Slavic script. If you know a little of the Cyrillic alphabet, you can decipher the captions, which are written in a sort of checkerboard fashion - the first letter of a word is written above the second letter, then the third letter is written at the same level as the first letter, and so on.
There is a steep, narrow staircase to the main level. It's only as wide as your shoulders. It was fun to climb up these old brick steps. If you cannot get up the stairs, perhaps they would let you enter by one of the two large, main staircases. I doubt there is a wheelchair lift to the main level, but I could be wrong.
The walls and floors of the main level are warm, old brick. There are beautiful frescoes, but even more interesting are the purely functional, undecorated walls. The underlying brick has been covered with plaster and painted over -- to look like bricks! I guess they preferred the neat, precise look of painted bricks to what the bricklayers had done.
In the center of the cathedral is the main chapel under a high, conical ceiling. During my visit, a choir was performing. You could sit on the bench and listen to beautiful a capella voices and imagine what it was like to worship in the cathedral at the end of the Middle Ages.
You leave the cathedral via one of two wide, bright staircases. You can buy souvenirs as you leave.
I visited during the summer, and the cathedral was not overly crowded. I stood alone in the small chapels, or with just one or two other people.
I can't say that weebagpuss is wrong about St. Basil's; just that she and I have different interests, as will you. In reading our reviews, you will find yourself siding with one or the other based on your own inclinations.
Just a couple comments about her review: It's true that there is nothing to read inside that will explain about the history of the building or orthodox worship practices. However, I did enjoy just walking around the building enjoying the very old art and architecture. Also, when I visited in 2003, photography was permitted for a fee.
In short, I was quite curious about the interior and found it beautiful, and thrilling to stand in a building which had been built in the 1400s.
Advantages: looks impressive from outside, the classic image of Russia which you must get a photo of! Disadvantages: not quite as interesting inside, lack of historical information
St Basil's Cathedral completely dominates Red Square in Moscow. It is one of those 'classic' images of Russia, which you see on all the front of the guidebooks and postcards. For anyone that has never seen it, it is famous for its large domed towers, the domes being in a variety of colours and patterns, it is certainly eye catching. As I mentioned in a previous opinion, I was on an organised tour to Russsia, so did not have to pay separately for ... ...never have built anything again, St Basil's, in my opinion, is not in actual fact the best of the cathedrals or buildings in Russia - my personal favourite is the Church of the Spilled Blood in St Petersburg, which doesn't have quite the garish colouring that St Basil's does. Furthermore, some of the monastic buildings near Moscow can also rival St Basil's Cathedral, decorated in gold and blue. Nevertheless, St Basil's does have its own personal ...
weebagpuss 07.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of St Basil`s Cathedral
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Advantages: Fantastic architecture, lots to see Disadvantages: Too many tourists
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Advantages: Warm, interesting and unusual Disadvantages: Very little English spoken, large differences between rich and poor
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, Faberge eggs, jewellery and thrones dripping with diamonds-no wonder there was a revolution!
The cobbled Red Square was as impressive as we expected, so impressive that we paid a second visit by night to see it illuminated, though Morty wanted to visit Lenin’s Tomb but sadly it was closed, and we saw the multi-coloured onion domed StBasil’sCathedral which symbolises Russia -better than the postcards! We did stroll round GUM, Russia’s largest shopping centre. GUM is like a palace in itself with fountains, waterways, and glass roof, selling the most expensive International designer labels I’ve ever seen under one roof, in contrast to the empty shelves in Soviet times.
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~~~~~~~
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