Aleksander Gieysztor (17 July 1916 – 9 February 1999) was a Polish medievalist historian .
133-808: Aleksander Gieysztor was born to a Polish family in Moscow , Russia, where his father worked as a railwayman. In 1921, the family relocated to Poland and settled in Warsaw . He graduated in history from the University of Warsaw in 1937. He was married to Irena Gieysztor née Czarnecka, a fellow historian. The Aleksander Gieysztor Prize of the Kronenberg Foundation and the Aleksander Gieysztor Academy of Humanities are named after him. This biographical article about
266-510: A cluster of small onion domes . The foundations, as was traditional in medieval Moscow, were built of white stone, while the churches themselves were built of red brick (28 by 14 by 8 cm (11.0 by 5.5 by 3.1 in)), then a relatively new material (the first attested brick building in Moscow, the new Kremlin Wall , was started in 1485). Surveys of the structure show that the basement level
399-415: A daily newspaper. In the 1830s, general Alexander Bashilov planned the first regular grid of city streets north from Petrovsky Palace. Khodynka field south of the highway was used for military training. Smolensky Rail station (forerunner of Belorussky Rail Terminal ) was inaugurated in 1870. Sokolniki Park , in the 18th century the home of the tsar's falconers well outside Moscow, became contiguous with
532-440: A frequently-told story is that Kaganovich picked up a model of the church in the process of envisioning Red Square without it, and Stalin sharply responded "Lazar, put it back!" Similarly, Stalin's master planner, architect Vladimir Semyonov, reputedly dared to "grab Stalin's elbow when the leader picked up a model of the church to see how Red Square would look without it" and was replaced by pure functionary Sergey Chernyshov. In
665-621: A historian from Poland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Moscow Moscow is the capital and largest city of Russia . The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia , with a population estimated at over 13 million residents within the city limits, over 19.1 million residents in the urban area, and over 21.5 million residents in its metropolitan area . The city covers an area of 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), while
798-944: A museum, is officially known as the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat , or Pokrovsky Cathedral . It was built from 1555 to 1561 on orders from Ivan the Terrible and commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan . Its completion, with its colors, was made in 1683. It was the city's tallest building until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600. The original building, known as Trinity Church and later Trinity Cathedral , contained eight chapels arranged around
931-483: A new stone cathedral on the site of Trinity Church to commemorate his campaigns. Dedication of a church to a military victory was "a major innovation" for Muscovy. The placement of the church outside the Kremlin walls was a political statement in favour of posad commoners and against hereditary boyars . Contemporary commentators clearly identified the new building as Trinity Church, after its easternmost sanctuary ;
1064-667: A ninth, central chapel dedicated to the Intercession ; a tenth chapel was erected in 1588 over the grave of the venerated local saint Vasily (Basil) . In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City . Like all churches in Byzantine Christianity , the church was popularly known as the " Jerusalem " and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in
1197-536: A prosperous city that would eclipse its parent principality of Vladimir by the 1320s. On the right bank of the Moskva River, at a distance of eight kilometres (5 mi) from the Kremlin, by 1282 Daniel founded the first monastery with the wooden church of St. Daniel-Stylite, which is now the Danilov Monastery. Daniel died in 1303, aged 42. Before his death, he became a monk and, according to his will,
1330-458: A record 411 hours in July 2014, 79% of possible sunshine. December 2017 was the darkest month in Moscow since records began, with only six minutes of sunlight. Temperatures in the centre of Moscow are often significantly higher than in the outskirts and nearby suburbs, especially in winter. For example, if the average January temperature in the north-east of Moscow is −6.2 °C (20.8 °F), in
1463-448: A symptom of disorderly lifestyles of lower-class Russians recently arrived from the farms. Elites called for improved sanitation, which became part of Catherine's plans for increasing control over social life. National political and military successes from 1812 through 1855 calmed the critics and validated efforts to produce a more enlightened and stable society. There was less discussion about the poor conditions of public health. However, in
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#17327986930021596-490: A touch of rainbow as prescribed by the Bible. While historians agree on the colour of the 16th-century domes, their shape is disputed. Boris Eding wrote that they most likely were of the same onion shape as the present-day domes. However, both Kolomenskoye and Dyakovo churches have flattened hemispherical domes, and the same type could have been used by Barma and Postnik. The building, originally known as "Trinity Church",
1729-499: A week or two at a time. In the winter, average temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C (14 °F), though almost every winter there are periods of warmth with day temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F), and periods of cooling with night temperatures falling below −20 °C (−4 °F). These periods usually last about a week or two. The growing season in Moscow normally lasts for 156 days usually around 1 May to 5 October. The highest temperature ever recorded
1862-538: Is 19.7 °C (67.5 °F). The lowest ever recorded temperature was −42.1 °C (−43.8 °F) in January 1940. Snow, which is present for about five months a year, often begins to fall mid-October, while snow cover lies in late November and melts at the end of March. On average, Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine per year, varying from a low of 8% in December to 52% from May to August. This large annual variation
1995-668: Is a surname, most common in Russia, Bulgaria , Ukraine and North Macedonia . Additionally, there are similarly named places in Poland like Mozgawa . According to a Finno-Ugric hypothesis, the Merya and Muroma people, who were among the pre-Slavic tribes which inhabited the area, called the river Mustajoki "Black river", and the name of the river derives from this term. Other theories, having little or no scientific basis, are rejected by linguists. The original Old Russian form of
2128-472: Is about −7.0 °C (19.4 °F). At the end of January–February it is often colder, with frosts reaching −30.0 °C (−22.0 °F) a few nights per year (2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013). The last decade was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations of Moscow. Temperature changes in the city are depicted in the table below: Moscow is one of the few cities with paleontological monuments of world significance on its territory. One of them
2261-485: Is due to convective cloud formation. In the winter, moist air from the Atlantic condenses in the cold continental interior, resulting in very overcast conditions. However, this same continental influence results in considerably sunnier summers than oceanic cities of similar latitude such as Edinburgh . Between 2004 and 2010, the average was between 1800 and 2000 hours with a tendency to more sunshine in summer months, up to
2394-437: Is global, not regional. During the summer, extreme heat is often observed in the city (2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 , 2011, 2021 ). Along with a southern part of Central Russia , after recent years of hot summer seasons, the climate of the city gets hot-summer classification trends. Winter also became significantly milder: for example, the average January temperature in the early 1900s was −12.0 °C (10.4 °F), while now it
2527-537: Is home to Russian companies in different industries and is served by a comprehensive transit network, which includes four international airports , ten railway terminals, a tram system , a monorail system , and the Moscow Metro , which is the busiest metro system in Europe and one of the largest rapid transit systems in the world. The city has over 40 percent of its territory covered by greenery, making it one of
2660-643: Is one of twelve Hero Cities . The demonym for a Moscow resident is rendered as Muscovite in English. The site of modern-day Moscow has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Among the earliest finds are relics of the Lyalovo culture , which experts assign to the Neolithic period. They confirm that the first inhabitants of the area were hunters and gatherers. Around 950 AD, two Slavic tribes, Vyatichi and Krivichi , settled here. The Vyatichi may have formed
2793-403: Is perfectly aligned, indicating use of professional drawing and measurement, but each subsequent level becomes less and less regular. Restorers who replaced parts of the brickwork in 1954–1955 discovered that the massive brick walls conceal an internal wooden frame running the entire height of the church. This frame, made of elaborately tied thin studs, was erected as a life-size spatial model of
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#17327986930022926-653: Is still partly in use today as a museum and, since 1991, is occasionally used for services by the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1997, Orthodox Christian services have been held regularly. Nowadays, every Sunday at Saint Basil's church, there is a divine liturgy at 10 a.m. with an Akathist to Saint Basil. Because the church has no analog—in the preceding, contemporary, or later architecture of Muscovy and Byzantine cultural tradition, in general, —the sources that inspired Barma and Postnik are disputed. Eugène Viollet-le-Duc rejected European roots for
3059-760: Is the Gorodnya River with its tributaries, on the banks of which outcrops of the Quaternary and older Cretaceous periods are located. Fossils of the bivalve mollusk Inoceramus kleinii and tubular passages of burrowing animals, described in 2017 as a new ichnospecies Skolithos gorodnensis , were discovered in the Coniacian deposits near the stream bed of the Bolshaya Glinka River. Ichnogenera Diplocraterion , Planolites , Skolithos and possibly Ophiomorpha were found in
3192-640: The 1980 Summer Olympics and one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup . The city contains several UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is known for its display of Russian architecture , particularly in areas such as the Red Square and buildings such as the Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Moscow Kremlin , the latter of which is the seat of power of the Government of Russia . Moscow
3325-516: The 2021 Russian census , the population was 13,010,112; up from 11,503,501 in the 2010 Russian census . Saint Basil%27s Cathedral The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (Russian: Собор Василия Блаженного , romanized : Sobor Vasiliya Blazhennogo ), known in English as Saint Basil's Cathedral , is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow , and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia . The building, now
3458-581: The Albian deposits. Paleolithic flint tools were discovered in the Quaternary deposits of the Bolshaya Glinka stream bed. In 1878, paleontologist Hermann Trautschold discovered the left flipper of an ichthyosaur near the village of Mnevniki, which later became part of Moscow. In 2014, the animal was named Undorosaurus trautscholdi , after its discoverer. Trautschold determined the age of
3591-772: The Moja Ulitsa (in English: My Street ) urban redevelopment program or the Residency renovation one. By its territorial expansion on 1 July 2012, southwest into the Moscow Oblast the area of the capital more than doubled, going from 1,091 to 2,511 square kilometers (421 to 970 sq mi), resulting in Moscow becoming the largest city on the European continent by area; it also gained an additional population of 233,000 people. The annexed territory
3724-533: The Moskva and Neglinnaya and be filled with water from Neglinnaya. Known as the Alevizov moat and with a length of 541 metres (1,775 feet), width of 36 metres (118 feet), and depth of 9.5 to 13 metres (31–43 feet) was lined with limestone and, in 1533, fenced on both sides with low, four-metre-thick (13-foot) cogged-brick walls. In the 16th and 17th centuries, three circular defenses were built: Kitay-gorod ,
3857-537: The Republic of Crimea . The areas operate in what is referred to in international standards as Moscow Standard Time (MSK, МСК ) , which is 3 hours ahead of UTC , or UTC+3 . Daylight saving time is no longer observed. According to the geographical longitude the average solar noon in Moscow occurs at 12:30. Moscow has a humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb ) with long, cold (although average by Russian standards) winters usually lasting from mid-November to
3990-529: The Russo-Kazan War by erecting a wooden memorial church next to the walls of Trinity Church; by the end of his Astrakhan campaign , it was shrouded within a cluster of seven wooden churches. According to the report in Nikon's Chronicle , in the autumn of 1554 Ivan ordered the construction of the wooden Church of Intercession on the same site, "on the moat". One year later, Ivan ordered the construction of
4123-677: The Wehrmacht and 650,000-1,280,000 for the Red Army. During the postwar years, there was a housing crisis, solved by the invention of high-rise apartments . There are over 11,000 of these standardised and prefabricated apartment blocks, housing most of Moscow's population, making it by far the city with the most high-rise buildings. Apartments were built and partly furnished in the factory, before being raised and stacked into tall columns. The popular Soviet-era comic film Irony of Fate parodies this construction method. The city of Zelenograd
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4256-586: The doctrine of Third Rome , which in turn promoted assimilation of contemporary Greek and Italian culture. Shvidkovsky noted the resemblance of the cathedral's floorplan to Italian concepts by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Donato Bramante , but most likely Filarete 's Trattato di architettura . Other Russian researchers noted a resemblance to sketches by Leonardo da Vinci , although he could not have been known in Ivan's Moscow. Nikolay Brunov recognized
4389-535: The votive churches that did not need to house substantial congregations . David Watkin also wrote of a blend of Russian and Byzantine roots, calling the cathedral "the climax" of Russian vernacular wooden architecture. The church combines the staggered layered design of the earliest (1505–1508) part of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower , the central tent of the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye (1530s), and
4522-573: The "White-Walled". The city's limits as marked by the ramparts, are now marked by the Garden Ring . Three square gates existed on the east side of the Kremlin wall, which in the 17th century, were known as Konstantino-Eleninsky, Spassky, Nikolsky (after the icons of Constantine and Helen, the Saviour and St. Nicholas that hung over them). The last two were directly opposite the Red Square, while
4655-555: The "improbable" shapes of the Intercession Church and the Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye manifested an emerging national renaissance , blending earlier Muscovite elements with the influence of Italian Renaissance . A large group of Italian architects and craftsmen continuously worked in Moscow in 1474–1539, as well as Greek refugees who arrived in the city after the fall of Constantinople . These two groups, according to Shvidkovsky, helped Moscow rulers in forging
4788-418: The 15th century, but it was developed into a prestigious area during the 18th century. It was destroyed in the fire of 1812 and was rebuilt completely in the early 19th century. Moscow State University was established in 1755. Its main building was reconstructed after the 1812 fire by Domenico Giliardi . The Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper appeared from 1756, originally in weekly intervals, and from 1859 as
4921-533: The 17th century changed in favour of bright colours; iconographic and mural art experienced an explosive growth in the number of available paints, dyes and their combinations. The original colour scheme, missing these innovations, was far less challenging. It followed the depiction of the Heavenly City in the Book of Revelation : And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there
5054-489: The 1810s and found many original tiles missing and others discoloured; after a protracted debate the whole set of tiles on the tented roof was replaced with new ones. Another dubious decision allowed the use of standard bricks that were smaller than the original 16th-century ones. Restorers agreed that the paintwork of the 19th century must be replaced with a "truthful recreation" of historic patterns, but these had to be reconstructed and deduced based on medieval miniatures. In
5187-432: The 1990s to 2000s, its population rising from below nine to above ten million. Mason and Nigmatullina argue that Soviet-era urban-growth controls produced controlled and sustainable metropolitan development, typified by the greenbelt built in 1935. Since then, however, there has been a dramatic growth of low-density suburban sprawl, created by heavy demand for single-family dwellings as opposed to crowded apartments. In 1995–97
5320-476: The Church of the Intercession, is 46 metres (151 ft) tall internally but has a floor area of only 64 square metres (690 sq ft). Nevertheless, it is wider and airier than the church in Kolomenskoye with its exceptionally thick walls. The corridors functioned as internal parvises ; the western corridor, adorned with a unique flat caissoned ceiling , doubled as the narthex . The detached belfry of
5453-727: The General Staff of the Red Army were located in Moscow. In 1941, 16 divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), 25 battalions, and 4 engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. Between October 1941 and January 1942, the German Army Group Centre was stopped at the outskirts of the city, then driven off in the Battle of Moscow . Many factories were evacuated, together with much of
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5586-609: The Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basil's Cathedral. The Russian famine of 1601–03 killed perhaps 100,000 in Moscow. Between 1610 and 1612, troops of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Moscow, as its ruler Sigismund III tried to take the Russian throne. In 1612, Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian cities led by prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin rose against
5719-456: The Kremlin, appears properly symmetrical and monolithic. The latter perception is reinforced by the fortress-style machicolation and corbeled cornice of the western Church of Entry into Jerusalem, mirroring the real fortifications of the Kremlin. Inside the composite church is a labyrinth of narrow vaulted corridors and vertical cylinders of the churches. Today the cathedral consists of nine individual chapels. The largest, central one,
5852-529: The MKAD ring road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo became the first Moscow Metro station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD. The Third Ring Road , intermediate between the early 19th-century Garden Ring and the Soviet-era outer ring road, was completed in 2004. The greenbelt is becoming more and more fragmented, and satellite cities are appearing at
5985-545: The Mongols under Batu Khan burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants. The timber fort na Moskvě "on the Moscow River" was inherited by Daniel , the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky , in the 1260s. Daniel was still a child at the time, and the big fort was governed by tiuns (deputies), appointed by Daniel's paternal uncle, Yaroslav of Tver . Daniel came of age in the 1270s and became involved in
6118-811: The Polish occupants, besieged the Kremlin, and expelled them . In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Michael Romanov tsar, establishing the Romanov dynasty . The 17th century saw several risings, such as the liberation of Moscow from the Polish–Lithuanian invaders (1612), the Salt Riot (1648), the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682 . During the first half of the 17th century,
6251-670: The Russian Orthodox community as part of the Soviet Union 's antireligious campaigns and has operated as a division of the State Historical Museum since 1928. It was completely secularized in 1929, and remains a federal property of the Russian Federation . The church has been part of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990. With the dissolution of
6384-660: The Soviet Union in 1991, weekly Orthodox Christian services with prayer to St. Basil have been restored since 1997. The site of the church had been, historically, a busy marketplace between the St. Frol's (later Saviour's) Gate of the Moscow Kremlin and the outlying posad . The centre of the marketplace was marked by the Trinity Church, built of the same white stone as the Kremlin of Dmitry Donskoy (1366–68) and its cathedrals. Tsar Ivan IV marked every victory of
6517-590: The US and other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In 1991 Moscow was the scene of a coup attempt by conservative communists opposed to the liberal reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev . When the USSR was dissolved in 1991, Moscow remained the capital of the Russian Federation . Since then, a market economy has emerged, producing an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles. The city continued to grow during
6650-438: The White City and the Earthen City. However, in 1547, fires destroyed much of the town, and in 1571 the Crimean Tatars captured Moscow , burning everything except the Kremlin. The annals record that only 30,000 of 200,000 inhabitants survived. The Crimean Tatars attacked again in 1591, but were held back by new walls, built between 1584 and 1591 by a craftsman named Fyodor Kon . In 1592, an outer earth rampart with 50 towers
6783-448: The actual 20th anniversary of the victory in World War II, Moscow was awarded a title of the Hero City . The Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) was opened in 1961. It had four lanes running 109 kilometres (68 miles) along the city borders. The MKAD marked the administrative boundaries of the city until the 1980s, when outlying suburbs beyond the ring road were incorporated. In 1980, Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games , which were boycotted by
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#17327986930026916-507: The ancient " Novgorod Chronicle " and made it a propaganda vehicle for his regime. The original Moscow Kremlin was built in the 14th century. It was reconstructed by Ivan, who in the 1480s invited architects from Renaissance Italy , such as Petrus Antonius Solarius , who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marco Ruffo who designed the new palace for the prince. The Kremlin walls as they now appear are those designed by Solarius, completed in 1495. The Kremlin's Great Bell Tower
7049-438: The annual Palm Sunday parade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the Tsar . The cathedral has nine domes (each one corresponding to a different church) and is shaped like the flame of a bonfire rising into the sky. Dmitry Shvidkovsky, in his book Russian Architecture and the West , states that "it is like no other Russian building. Nothing similar can be found in the entire millennium of Byzantine tradition from
7182-411: The architect is unknown. Tradition held that the church was built by two architects, Barma and Postnik: the official Russian cultural heritage register lists "Barma and Postnik Yakovlev ". Researchers proposed that both names refer to the same person, Postnik Yakovlev or, alternatively, Ivan Yakovlevich Barma (Varfolomey). Legend held that Ivan blinded the architect so that he could not re-create
7315-410: The architect of the fortress of Ivangorod . There is evidence that construction involved stonemasons from Pskov and German lands. The original Trinity Church burnt down in 1583 and was refitted by 1593. The ninth sanctuary, dedicated to Basil Fool for Christ (the 1460s–1552), was added in 1588 next to the north-eastern sanctuary of the Three Patriarchs. Another local fool, Ivan the Blessed,
7448-431: The autumn of 1933, the church was struck from the heritage register . Baranovsky was summoned to perform a last-minute survey of the church slated for demolition, and was then arrested for his objections. While he served his term in the Gulag , attitudes changed and by 1937 even hard-line Bolshevik planners admitted that the church should be spared. In the spring of 1939, the church was locked, probably because demolition
7581-399: The capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow . When the Tsardom of Russia was proclaimed, Moscow remained the political and economic center for most of its history. Under the reign of Peter the Great , the Russian capital was moved to the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg in 1712, decreasing Moscow's influence. Following the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Russian SFSR ,
7714-499: The capital was moved back to Moscow in 1918, where it later became the political center of the Soviet Union . In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union , Moscow remained the capital city of the newly established Russian Federation. The northernmost and coldest megacity in the world, Moscow is governed as a federal city , where it serves as the political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe . As an alpha world city , Moscow has one of
7847-447: The cathedral, opining that its corbel arches were Byzantine and ultimately Asian. A modern "Asian" hypothesis considers the cathedral a recreation of Qolşärif Mosque , which was destroyed by Russian troops after the Siege of Kazan. Nineteenth-century Russian writers, starting with Ivan Zabelin , emphasized the influence of the vernacular wooden churches of the Russian North; their motifs made their ways into masonry, particularly
7980-431: The church after Lenin's funeral (January 1924). In the first half of the 1930s, the church became an obstacle for Joseph Stalin 's urbanist plans, carried out by Moscow party boss Lazar Kaganovich , "the moving spirit behind the reconstruction of the capital". The conflict between preservationists, notably Pyotr Baranovsky , and the administration continued at least until 1936 and spawned urban legends . In particular,
8113-411: The church and the Moskva River . Red Square was opened to the river, and "St. Basil thus crowned the decapitated hillock ." Bove built the stone terrace wall separating the church from the pavement of Moskvoretskaya Street; the southern side of the terrace was completed in 1834. Minor repairs continued until 1848, when the domes acquired their present-day colours. Preservationist societies monitored
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#17327986930028246-406: The church for stables and looted anything worth taking. The church was spared by the Fire of Moscow (1812) that razed Kitai-gorod , and by the troops' failure to blow it up according to Napoleon 's order. The interiors were repaired in 1813 and the exterior in 1816. Instead of replacing missing ceramic tiles of the main tent, the Church preferred to simply cover it with a tin roof. The fate of
8379-410: The church was enclosed in an apparently chaotic cluster of commercial buildings; rows of shops "transformed Red Square into an oblong and closed yard." In 1800 the space between the Kremlin wall and the church was still occupied by a moat that predated the church itself. The moat was filled in preparation for the coronation of Alexander I in 1801. The French troops who occupied Moscow in 1812 used
8512-489: The church was headed by protoiereus Ioann Vostorgov, a nationalist preacher and a leader of the Black-Hundredist Union of the Russian People . Vostorgov was arrested by Bolsheviks in 1918 on a pretext of embezzling nationalized church properties and was executed in 1919. The church briefly enjoyed Vladimir Lenin 's "personal interest"; in 1923 it became a public museum, though religious services continued until 1929. Bolshevik planners entertained ideas of demolishing
8645-426: The churches. Another round of repairs, led by Nikolay Sobolev in 1954–1955, restored original paint imitating brickwork, and allowed restorers to dig inside old masonry, revealing the wooden frame inside it. In the 1960s, the tin roofing of the domes was replaced with copper. The last round of renovation was completed in September 2008 with the opening of the restored sanctuary of St. Alexander Svirsky. The building
8778-482: The churches; all exterior and interior walls of the first two floors were covered with floral ornamentation. The belltower was connected with the church through a ground-floor annex; the last remaining open arches of the former ground-floor arcade were filled during the same period, erasing the last hint of what was once an open platform carrying the nine churches of Ivan's Jerusalem. Paintings of Red Square by Fyodor Alekseyev , made in 1800–1802, show that by this time
8911-441: The city and −30 °C (−22 °F) in the suburbs to above 5 °C (41 °F) in the winter, and from 10 to 35 °C (50 to 95 °F) in the summer. Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July, and August are around a comfortable 20 to 26 °C (68 to 79 °F), but during heat waves (which can occur between May and September), daytime high temperatures often exceed 30 °C (86 °F), sometimes for
9044-417: The city, but he lost to the opposition, whose plans were finally endorsed by Alexander I in December 1817 (the specific decision on clearing the rubble around the church was issued in 1816). Nevertheless, actual redevelopment by Joseph Bove resulted in clearing the rubble and creating Vasilyevskaya (St. Basil's) Square between the church and Kremlin wall by shaving off the crest of the Kremlin Hill between
9177-449: The city. The plague epidemics ravaged Moscow in 1570–1571, 1592 and 1654–1656. The plague killed upwards of 80% of the people in 1654–55. Fires burned out much of the wooden city in 1626 and 1648. In 1712 Peter the Great moved his government to the newly built Saint Petersburg on the Baltic coast. After losing the status as capital, the population at first decreased, from 200,000 in the 17th century to 130,000 in 1750. But after 1750,
9310-447: The course of the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) . These new outskirts became known as the Meshchanskaya sloboda , after Ruthenian meshchane "town people". The term meshchane acquired pejorative connotations in 18th-century Russia and today means "petty bourgeois" or "narrow-minded philistine". The entire city of the late 17th century are contained within what is today Moscow's Central Administrative Okrug . Numerous disasters befell
9443-520: The cylindric shape of the Church of Beheading of John the Baptist in Dyakovo (1547); but the origin of these unique buildings is equally debated. The Church in Kolomenskoye, according to Sergei Podyapolsky , was built by Italian Petrok Maly , although mainstream history has not yet accepted his opinion. Andrey Batalov revised the year of completion of Dyakovo church from 1547 to the 1560s–70s, and noted that Trinity Church could have had no tangible predecessors at all. Dmitry Shvidkovsky suggested that
9576-455: The day of its consecration the church itself became part of Orthodox thaumaturgy . According to the legend, its "missing" ninth church (more precisely a sanctuary ) was "miraculously found" during a ceremony attended by Tsar Ivan IV , Metropolitan Makarius with the divine intervention of Saint Tikhon. Piskaryov's Chronist wrote in the second quarter of the 17th century: And the Tsar came to
9709-486: The dedication of the said church with Tsaritsa Nastasia and with Metropolitan Makarius and brought the icon of St Nicholas the Wonderworker that came from Vyatka . And they began to offer a prayer service with sanctified water . And the Tsar touched the base with his own hands. And the builders saw that another sanctuary appeared, and told the Tsar. And the Tsar, and Metropolitan, and all the clergy were surprised by
9842-957: The destruction during the French occupation, a Commission for the Construction of the City of Moscow was established. It launched a great program of rebuilding, including a partial replanning of the centre. Among many buildings constructed, or reconstructed, was the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Kremlin Armoury , the Moscow University , the Moscow Manege (Riding School), and the Bolshoi Theatre . The Arbat Street had been in existence since at least
9975-463: The end of March, and warm summers. More extreme continental climates at the same latitude – such as parts of Eastern Canada or Siberia – have much colder winters than Moscow, suggesting that there is still significant moderation from the Atlantic Ocean despite the fact that Moscow is far from the sea. Weather can fluctuate widely, with temperatures ranging from −25 °C (−13 °F) in
10108-636: The end of the 1920s. A new anti-religious campaign, launched in 1929, coincided with the collectivization of peasants; the destruction of churches in the cities peaked around 1932. In 1937 letters were written to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to rename Moscow to "Stalindar" or "Stalinodar". Stalin rejected this suggestion. During World War II, the Soviet State Committee of Defence and
10241-423: The end, Solovyov and his advisers chose a combination of deep red with deep green that is retained to the present. In 1908 the church received its first warm air heating system , which did not work well because of heat losses in long air ducts, heating only the eastern and northern sanctuaries. In 1913 it was complemented with a pumped water heating system serving the rest of the church. During World War I ,
10374-494: The expanding city in the later 19th century and was developed into a public municipal park in 1878. The suburban Savyolovsky Rail Terminal was built in 1902. In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor , was officially introduced, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. When Catherine II came to power in 1762, the city's filth and the smell of sewage were depicted by observers as
10507-419: The fifth to the fifteenth century ... a strangeness that astonishes by its unexpectedness, complexity and dazzling interleaving of the manifold details of its design." The cathedral foreshadowed the climax of Russian national architecture in the 17th century, and it is considered as a prime example of Russian Renaissance architecture. As part of the program of state atheism , the church was confiscated from
10640-433: The first-floor platform were so profound that Nikolay Brunov rebuilt a composite church from an "old" building and an independent work that incorporated the "new" Trinity Church. What once was a group of nine independent churches on a common platform became a monolithic temple. The formerly open ground-floor arcades were filled with brick walls; the new space housed altars from thirteen former wooden churches erected on
10773-464: The fringe. Summer dachas are being converted into year-round residences, and with the proliferation of automobiles there is heavy traffic congestion. Multiple old churches and other examples of architectural heritage that had been demolished during the Stalin era have been restored, such as the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour . In 2010s Moscow's Administration has launched some long duration projects like
10906-400: The future cathedral and was then gradually enclosed in solid masonry. The builders, fascinated by the flexibility of the new technology, used red bricks as a decorative medium both inside and out, leaving as much brickwork open as possible; when location required the use of stone walls, it was decorated with a brickwork pattern painted over stucco . A major novelty introduced by the church
11039-546: The government, and from 20 October the city was declared to be in a siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and manned antitank defenses, while the city was bombarded from the air. On 1 May 1944, a medal "For the defence of Moscow" and in 1947 another medal "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" was instituted. German and Soviet casualties during the battle have been debated, as sources provide different estimates. Total casualties between 30 September 1941, and 7 January 1942, are estimated to be between 248,000 and 400,000 for
11172-785: The greenest cities in the world. The city's name is thought to be derived from the Moskva River . Theories of the origin of the name of the river have been proposed. The most linguistically well-grounded and widely accepted is from the Proto-Balto-Slavic root * mŭzg -/ muzg - from the Proto-Indo-European * meu - "wet", so the name Moskva might signify a river at a wetland or marsh. Its cognates include Russian : музга , muzga "pool, puddle", Lithuanian : mazgoti and Latvian : mazgāt "to wash", Sanskrit : májjati "to drown", Latin : mergō "to dip, immerse". In many Slavic countries Moskov
11305-430: The immediate environment of the church has been a subject of dispute between city planners since 1813. Scotsman William Hastie proposed clearing the space around all sides of the church and all the way down to the Moskva River ; the official commission led by Fyodor Rostopchin and Mikhail Tsitsianov agreed to clear only the space between the church and Lobnoye Mesto . Hastie's plan could have radically transformed
11438-669: The influence of these prototypes but not their significance; he suggested that mid-16th century Moscow already had local architects trained in Italian tradition, architectural drawing and perspective , and that this culture was lost during the Time of Troubles . Andrey Batalov wrote that judging by the number of novel elements introduced with Trinity Church, it was most likely built by German craftsmen. Batalov and Shvidkovsky noted that during Ivan's reign, Germans and Englishmen replaced Italians, although German influence peaked later during
11571-427: The latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва , Moskva , which is a result of morphological generalization with the numerous Slavic ā -stem nouns . The form Moskovĭ has left traces in other languages, including English: Moscow ; German : Moskau ; French : Moscou ; Portuguese : Moscou, Moscovo ; and Spanish : Moscú . Moscow has acquired epithets , such as The Third Rome . Moscow
11704-514: The latter name, being informal, is always mentioned second. The common Western translations "Cathedral of Basil the Blessed" and "Saint Basil's Cathedral" incorrectly bestow the status of cathedral on the church of Basil, but are nevertheless widely used even in academic literature. Especially during the 19. century, in English and other languages the Saint Basil's Cathedral was also called (Cathedral or Church of) Vassili Blagennoi. On
11837-417: The leading Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 metres (512 feet). Teplostan Upland is the city's highest point at 255 metres (837 feet). The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD ) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.8 km (32.2 mi). Moscow serves as the reference point for the time zone used in most of European Russia , Belarus and
11970-463: The majority of Moscow's indigenous population. The first known reference to Moscow was in 1147, as a meeting place of Yuri Dolgorukiy and Sviatoslav Olgovich . At the time it was a minor town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality. In 1156, Dolgorukiy fortified the town by creating a wooden wall; this structure became the Kremlin. In the course of the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' ,
12103-539: The masterpiece elsewhere. Many historians are convinced that it is a myth, as the architect later participated in the construction of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow as well as in building the walls and towers of the Kazan Kremlin . Postnik Yakovlev remained active at least throughout the 1560s. This myth likely originated with Jerome Horsey 's account of Ivan III of Moscow having blinded
12236-523: The medieval Muscovy state). He began fighting the Tatars, enlarged the territory of Muscovy, and enriched his capital city. By 1500 it had a population of 100,000 and was one of the largest cities in the world. He conquered the far larger principality of Novgorod to the north, which had been allied to the hostile Lithuanians. Thus he enlarged the territory sevenfold, from 430,000 to 2,800,000 square kilometres (170,000 to 1,080,000 square miles). He took control of
12369-427: The memory of Ivan's irrational atrocities. The central core and the four larger churches placed on the four major compass points are octagonal ; the four diagonally placed smaller churches are cuboid , although their shape is hardly visible through later additions. The larger churches stand on massive foundations, while the smaller ones were each placed on a raised platform as if hovering above ground. Although
12502-508: The moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns – "raskats". The Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto . The road connecting Moscow with St. Petersburg, now the M10 highway , was completed in 1746, its Moscow end following the old Tver road, which had existed since the 16th century. It became known as Peterburskoye Schosse after it
12635-594: The most powerful cities in Russia. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo . Afterward, Moscow took the leading role in liberating Russia from Mongol domination. In 1480, Ivan III had finally broken the Russians free from Tatar control, and Moscow became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of Russia and Siberia , and parts of many other lands. In 1462 Ivan III became Grand Prince of Moscow (then part of
12768-472: The name is reconstructed as * Москы , * Mosky , hence it was one of a few Slavic ū -stem nouns . As with other nouns of that declension, it had been undergoing a morphological transformation at the early stage of the development of the language, as a result, the first written references in the 12th century were Московь , Moskovĭ ( accusative case ), Москви , Moskvi ( locative case ), Москвe/Москвѣ , Moskve/Moskvě ( genitive case ). From
12901-435: The name of Vasily (Basil) the Blessed , who died during construction and was buried on-site, was attached to the church at the beginning of the 17th century. Current Russian tradition accepts two coexisting names of the church: the official "Church of Intercession on the Moat" (in full, the "Church of Intercession of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat"), and the "Temple of Basil the Blessed". When these names are listed together
13034-510: The new galleries; the towers retained their original brickwork pattern. Finally, in 1683, the church was adorned with a tiled cornice in yellow and blue, featuring a written history of the church in Old Slavic typeface. In 1737 the church was damaged by a massive fire and later restored by Ivan Michurin . The inscriptions made in 1683 were removed during the repairs of 1761–1784. The church received its first figurative murals inside
13167-412: The original Trinity Church stood southwest or south of the main structure. Late 16th- and early 17th-century plans depict a simple structure with three roof tents , most likely covered with sheet metal. No buildings of this type survive to date, although it was then common and used in all of the pass-through towers of Skorodom . August von Meyenberg 's panorama (1661) presents a different building, with
13300-483: The population doubled from 100,000 to 200,000, and it expanded beyond its ramparts in the latter part of the century. In the middle of the 17th century, 20% of Moscow suburb's inhabitants were from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , being driven from their homeland by Muscovite invaders. By 1682, there were 692 households established north of the ramparts, by Ukrainians and Belarusians abducted from their hometowns in
13433-539: The population grew tenfold over the remaining duration of the Russian Empire, reaching 1.8 million by 1915. The 1770–1772 Russian plague killed up to 100,000 people in Moscow. By 1700, the building of cobbled roads had begun. In 1730, permanent street lights were introduced, and by 1867 many streets had a gaslight. In 1883, near the Prechistinskiye Gates, arc lamps were installed. In 1741 Moscow
13566-495: The power struggles of the principality with lasting success, siding with his brother Dmitry in his bid for the rule of Novgorod . From 1283 he acted as the ruler of an independent principality alongside Dmitry, who became Grand Duke of Vladimir . Daniel has been credited with founding the first Moscow monasteries, dedicated to the Lord's Epiphany and to Saint Daniel. Daniel ruled Moscow as Grand Duke until 1303 and established it as
13699-507: The reign of Mikhail Romanov . German influence is indirectly supported by the rusticated pilasters of the central church, a feature more common in contemporary Northern Europe than in Italy. The 1983 academic edition of Monuments of Architecture in Moscow takes the middle ground: the church is, most likely, a product of the complex interaction of distinct Russian traditions of wooden and stone architecture, with some elements borrowed from
13832-590: The sediments from which the specimen was taken to be Kimmeridgian , but, according to more recent studies, they were formed in the Tithonian age of the Jurassic period. Albian foraminifera and ammonites also known from the Moscow deposits. Fossils of various organisms are on display in Moscow museums, including the Orlov Museum of Paleontology and Vernadsky State Geological Museum . According to
13965-412: The side churches are arranged in perfect symmetry, the cathedral as a whole is not. The larger central church was deliberately offset to the west from the geometric centre of the side churches, to accommodate its larger apse on the eastern side. As a result of this subtle calculated asymmetry , viewing from the north and the south presents a complex multi-axial shape, while the western façade, facing
14098-409: The site of Ivan's executions in Red Square. Wooden shelters above the first-floor platform and stairs (the cause of frequent fires) were rebuilt in brick, creating the present-day wrap-around galleries with tented roofs above the porches and vestibules. The old detached belfry was demolished; its square basement was reused for a new belltower. The tall single tented roof of this belltower, built in
14231-593: The sole collector of taxes for the Mongol rulers, making Moscow the capital of Vladimir-Suzdal . By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan . While the Khan of the Golden Horde initially attempted to limit Moscow's influence, when the growth of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania began to threaten all of Russia, the Khan strengthened Moscow to counterbalance Lithuania, allowing it to become one of
14364-505: The state of the church and called for a proper restoration throughout the 1880s and 1890s, but it was regularly delayed for lack of funds. The church did not have a congregation of its own and could only rely on donations raised through public campaigning; national authorities in Saint Petersburg and local in Moscow prevented financing from state and municipal budgets. In 1899 Nicholas II reluctantly admitted that this expense
14497-490: The status of " katholikon " ( собор , sobor , large assembly church) had not been bestowed on it yet: On the Trinity on the Moat in Moscow. In the same year, through the will of czar and lord and grand prince Ivan began making the pledged church, as he promised for the capture of Kazan : Trinity and Intercession and seven sanctuaries, also called "on the moat". And the builder was Barma with company. The identity of
14630-439: The suburbs it is about −8.3 °C (17.1 °F). The temperature difference between the centre of Moscow and nearby areas of Moscow Oblast can sometimes be more than 10 °C (18 °F) on frosty winter nights. Recent changes in Moscow's regional climate, since it is in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere, are often cited by climate scientists as evidence of global warming , though by definition, climate change
14763-436: The urban area covers 5,891 square kilometers (2,275 sq mi), and the metropolitan area covers over 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 sq mi). Moscow is among the world's largest cities , being the most populous city in its entirety in Europe, the largest urban and metropolitan area in Europe, and the largest city by land area on the European continent. First documented in 1147, Moscow grew to serve as
14896-444: The vernacular style of the reign of Alexis I , significantly changed the appearance of the cathedral, adding a strong asymmetrical counterweight to the church itself. The effect is most pronounced on the southern and eastern facades (as viewed from Zaryadye ), although the belltower is large enough to be seen from the west. The first ornamental murals in the cathedral appeared in the same period, starting with floral ornaments inside
15029-615: The wake of Russia's failures in the Crimean War in 1855–56, confidence in the ability of the state to maintain order in the slums eroded, and demands for improved public health put it back on the agenda. In 1903 the Moskvoretskaya water supply was completed. In November 1917, upon learning of the uprising in Petrograd , Moscow's Bolsheviks began their uprising . On 2 November (15), 1917, after heavy fighting, Soviet power
15162-443: The western side church and four elsewhere. This arrangement survived through most of the 17th century. The walls of the church mixed bare red brickwork or painted imitation of bricks with white ornaments, in roughly equal proportion. The domes, covered with tin, were uniformly gilded , creating an overall bright but fairly traditional combination of white, red and golden colours. Moderate use of green and blue ceramic inserts provided
15295-564: The westernmost sanctuary of the Entry into Jerusalem, these sanctuaries form the main east–west axis (Christ, Mary, Holy Trinity), while other sanctuaries are dedicated to individual saints. The name "Intercession Church" came into use later, coexisting with Trinity Church. From the end of the 16th century to the end of the 17th century the cathedral was also popularly called Jerusalem, with reference to its church of Entry into Jerusalem as well as to its sacral role in religious rituals . Finally,
15428-442: The works of Italians in Moscow. Specifically, the style of brickwork in the vaults is Italian. Instead of following the original ad hoc layout (seven churches around the central core), Ivan's architects opted for a more symmetrical floor plan with eight side churches around the core, producing "a thoroughly coherent, logical plan" despite the erroneous latter "notion of a structure devoid of restraint or reason" influenced by
15561-401: The world's largest urban economies . The city is one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations and is one of Europe's most visited cities . Moscow has the sixth-highest number of billionaires of any city. The Moscow International Business Center is one of the largest financial centers in the world and features the majority of Europe's tallest skyscrapers . Moscow was the host city of
15694-462: Was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F) at the VVC weather station and 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) in the center of Moscow and Domodedovo airport on 29 July 2010, during the unusual 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves . Record high and average temperatures were recorded for January, March, April, May, June, July, August, November, and December in 2007–2022. The average July temperature from 1991 to 2020
15827-422: Was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats, I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. The 25 seats from the biblical reference are alluded to in the building's structure, with the addition of eight small onion domes around the central tent, four around
15960-436: Was again on the agenda; however, the 1941 publication of Dmitry Sukhov's detailed book on the survey of the church in 1939–1940 speaks against this assumption. In the first years after World War II , renovators restored the historical ground-floor arcades and pillars that supported the first-floor platform, cleared up vaulted and caissoned ceilings in the galleries, and removed "unhistoric" 19th-century oil paint murals inside
16093-467: Was built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600. A trading settlement, or posad , grew up to the east of the Kremlin, in the area known as Zaradye . In the time of Ivan III, the Red Square , originally named the Hollow Field appeared. In 1508–1516, the Italian architect Aleviz Fryazin (Novy) arranged for the construction of a moat in front of the eastern wall, which would connect
16226-507: Was built in 1958 at 37 kilometres (23 miles) from the city centre to the north-west, along with the Leningradskoye Shosse , and incorporated as one of Moscow's administrative okrugs . Moscow State University moved to its campus on Sparrow Hills in 1953. In 1959 Nikita Khrushchev launched his anti-religious campaign . Of Moscow's fifty churches operating in 1959, thirty were closed and six demolished. On 8 May 1965, due to
16359-473: Was buried in the cemetery of the St. Daniel Monastery. Moscow was stable and prosperous for many years and attracted refugees from across Russia. The Rurikids maintained large landholdings by practicing primogeniture , whereby all land was passed to the eldest sons. By 1304, Yury of Moscow contested with Mikhail of Tver for the throne of the principality of Vladimir . Ivan I eventually defeated Tver to become
16492-581: Was buried on the church grounds in 1589; a sanctuary in his memory was established in 1672 inside the south-eastern arcade. The vault of the Saint Basil Sanctuary serves as a reference point in evaluating the quality of Muscovite stonemasonry and engineering. As one of the first vaults of its type, it represents the average of engineering craft that peaked a decade later in the church of the Trinity in Khoroshovo (completed 1596). The craft
16625-534: Was consecrated on 12 July 1561, and was subsequently elevated to the status of a sobor (similar to an ecclesiastical basilica in the Catholic Church , but usually and incorrectly translated as "cathedral"). "Trinity", according to tradition, refers to the easternmost sanctuary of the Holy Trinity , while the central sanctuary of the church is dedicated to the Intercession of Mary . Together with
16758-516: Was erected around the city, including an area on the right bank of the Moscow River. As an outermost line of defense, a chain of strongly fortified monasteries was established beyond the ramparts to the south and east, principally the Novodevichy Convent and Donskoy , Danilov , Simonov , Novospasskiy , and Andronikov monasteries, most of which now house museums. From its ramparts, the city became poetically known as Bielokamennaya ,
16891-421: Was established in Moscow. Vladimir Lenin , fearing invasion, moved the capital back to Moscow on 12 March 1918. The Kremlin once again became the seat of power, political centre of the new state. With the change in values imposed by communist ideology , the tradition of preserving cultural heritage was broken. Independent preservation societies, even those that defended only secular landmarks, were disbanded by
17024-408: Was lost in the Time of Troubles ; buildings from the first half of the 17th century lack the refinement of the late 16th century, compensating for poor construction skill with thicker walls and heavier vaults. The second, and most significant, round of refitting and expansion took place in 1680–1683. The nine churches themselves retained their appearance, but additions to the ground-floor arcade and
17157-479: Was necessary, but again all the involved state and municipal offices, including the Holy Synod , denied financing. Restoration, headed by Andrey Pavlinov (died 1898) and Sergey Solovyov , dragged on from 1896 to 1909; in total, preservationists managed to raise around 100,000 roubles . Restoration began with replacing the roofing of the domes. Solovyov removed the tin roofing of the main tent installed in
17290-580: Was officially named Новая Москва (New Moscow). Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River , which flows for just over 500 km (311 mi) through the East European Plain in central Russia, not far from the natural border of the forest and forest- steppe zone. 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits. The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where
17423-613: Was paved in the 1780s. Petrovsky Palace was built in 1776–1780 by Matvey Kazakov . Between 1781 and 1804 the Mytischinskiy water pipe (the first in Russia) was built. When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, the Moscovites were evacuated. The Moscow fire was principally the effect of Russian sabotage. Napoleon's Grande Armée was forced to retreat and nearly annihilated by the devastating Russian winter. In 1813, following
17556-634: Was surrounded by a barricade 40 kilometres (25 mi) long, the Kamer-Kollezhskiy barrier, with 16 gates at which customs tolls were collected. Its line is traced today by several streets called val ("ramparts"). In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, but the Spassky Gate was the main front gate of the Kremlin and used for royal entrances. From this gate, wooden and stone bridges stretched across
17689-439: Was the use of strictly "architectural" means of exterior decoration. Sculpture and sacred symbols employed by earlier Russian architecture are completely missing; floral ornaments are a later addition. Instead, the church boasts a diversity of three-dimensional architectural elements executed in brick. The church acquired its present-day vivid colours in several stages from the 1680s to 1848. Russian attitude towards colour in
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