In the 16th century, the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible turned his gaze to the East. He decided to expand his possessions by annexing the entire Volga region to Muscovy. To do this, it was necessary to subdue the Kazan Khanate, which was supported by the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate.
The first campaigns of the Russian army against Kazan were led by the clerk Vyrodkov, which ended in defeat. During the campaigns, the Russians erected the Sviyazhsk fortress, which became a real fortified outpost for subsequent hostilities.
The next campaign against Kazan was led by the Russian tsar. The army was better armed and the number of infantry regiments increased. Together with the tsar, the military company was led by talented generals - A. Kurbsky and M. Vorotynsky. Despite the fact that the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey tried to stop the movement of the Russian army to Kazan, suddenly attacking Tula, the Rusich still stubbornly went in the direction of the capital of the Kazan Khanate. After the defenders of Kazan refused to surrender the city peacefully, the Russian army began a siege of the capital of the Kazan Khanate.
According to an old legend, during the service held in the camp church, when the priest read the stanzas from the Gospel, an explosion was heard, thanks to which it was possible to make a passage in the wall surrounding the city. And although the explosion was prepared in advance by Russian vigilantes who had dug a tunnel under the wall, this coincidence was included in the legends about Ivan the Terrible's campaign. Russian troops broke into the city and won the victory with heavy fighting. To perpetuate the memory of the glorious campaign, the tsar made a vow to build a magnificent temple in Moscow.
Two years have passed. To build a new church, it was necessary to free up space near the Kremlin's Spassky Gate, destroying the wooden Church of the Holy Trinity. Since the date of the capture of Kazan coincided with the Feast of the Intercession, they decided to call the new cathedral the Intercession. There is a version that Ivan IV (the Terrible) wanted to perpetuate the memory of his father, Vasily III, by the construction of this temple, but so far it has not been possible to prove this assumption.
According to legend, the famous holy fool Vasily, nicknamed the Blessed by the people, collected money for the construction of the Intercession Cathedral. They say he brought the collected coins to Red Square and threw them there on the ground - no one touched this money. And just before his death, the holy fool gave all the collected coins to Ivan the Terrible.
There were many unusual legends about Basil the Blessed himself. Once some dashing people decided to lure out of the holy fool a fur coat presented to him by the master. One of the thieves pretended to be dead, and the other asked Basil the Blessed to help with the burial. The holy fool immediately realized that he was being deceived, but he took off his fur coat and covered the lying pretender, saying that the wicked man was worthy to be dead. The deceiver was dead under the fur coat. The day before the great Moscow fire, the holy fool Vasily came to the threshold of the Ascension Monastery and cried, telling everyone that a fire would happen. It was in this monastery that a destructive flame flared up. Many respected and feared Vasily, and even Ivan the Terrible himself, when the holy fool fell ill, visited him with his wife. Basil the Blessed was buried at the Trinity Church (which was demolished for the construction of the Intercession Cathedral, but the relics of Basil the Blessed,preserved and, subsequently, transferred to a new temple). Since 1588 the Intercession Cathedral received another name - the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed.
According to the official version, Postnik and Barma were the architects of the Intercession Cathedral. There is an assumption that we are talking about one person - Ivan Barma, who received the nickname Postnik for stubborn observance of the fast.
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Most often, when discussing the history of the temple, they recall the legend that by order of the sovereign, after the completion of the construction, the architects were blinded so that a similar object was never built. Historians refuted this legend with documents from which it follows that the name of the architect Postnik is found in the annals in connection with the construction of other architectural objects after the completion of the construction of the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow.
Historians are not sure that the architects of the Pokrovsky Cathedral were Russian architects. Many facts indicate that the creation of the pearl of the Russian capital was carried out by a foreign master. According to a legend that came to Russia from Italy, Ivan IV ordered the execution of the master, and popular rumor "automatically" transferred this story to Barma and Postnik.
And although the temple was consecrated in 1557, its construction continued for many more years. Each ruler tried to make the temple more beautiful.
The unusual "oriental" style of the cathedral's towers indicates that the architect wanted to add oriental features to the image of an Orthodox church. It turned out that the eight domes of the cathedral resemble the view of the Kazan mosque Kul-Sharif (the mosque was destroyed during the capture of Kazan by the Russian army). The ninth (central) dome of St. Basil's Cathedral symbolizes the victory of the Russians in the Kazan campaign.
The temple, extraordinary in its beauty, was tried several times to be destroyed. When Napoleon fled from Moscow, he ordered the destruction of the Kremlin and the Intercession Cathedral. In a hurry, the French did not manage to lay the required amount of explosives, so the Kremlin was blown up in five places, and a lighted fuse to the explosives of the Pokrovsky Cathedral was extinguished by heavy rain, the structure was not damaged. Although there is a legend that the wick went out thanks to the prayer of Muscovites, offered up for the preservation of the wonderful temple. It is a miracle that the Pokrovsky Cathedral was preserved after the revolution. Lazar Kaganovich, on whose conscience the destruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Kremlin Cathedral and many historical monuments, proposed to destroy the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in order to clear Red Square for popular processions. They say that Kaganovich brought Stalin a model of Red Square and, having removed the Intercession Cathedral from the model, showedwhat the area will look like. Stalin's reaction was instant: "Put it in place!"
It so happened that in the Church of St. Basil the Blessed, religion, history and culture of the Orthodox people were intertwined. It is not surprising that a large number of stories, legends and unexpected finds are associated with the cathedral.
In the Pokrovsky Cathedral itself, within one of the limits, is the last refuge of Basil the Blessed. There is an opinion that miracles happen at the holy fool's coffin.
In the temple you can see church utensils and 400 icons dating back to the 16th century, among them there are also miraculous icons.
Another secret is connected with the Intercession Cathedral. They say that the library of Ivan the Terrible is hidden in the deep basements of the temple. It is difficult to believe in this, since the cathedral was erected on a bulk shaft and has a shallow foundation. But the library of Ivan IV has not yet been found.
The temple is considered not only a symbol of Moscow, but also the pride of all of Russia. The original, airy, distinctive Pokrovsky Cathedral has become a world-class monument of ancient Russian architecture. Almost every Moscow temple has legends associated with mysterious and sometimes mystical events. But the secrets of St. Basil's Cathedral are still of interest not only to historians and architects, but also to lovers of ancient Russian antiquity.
