Russia 13-Red Square- St Basil Cathedral
July 18-21, 2008
St. Basil's is a delightful array of swirling colors and redbrick towers. Its design comprises nine individual chapels, each topped with a unique onion dome and each commemorating a victorious assault on the city of Kazan. The eight onion dome-topped towers are positioned around a central, ninth spire, forming an eight-point star. The extravagant and brightly colored domes of the cathedral's exterior mask a much more modestly decorated and somewhat less spectacular interior we were told so we didn't go inside. In the small garden outside St. Basil's stands an impressive bronze Statue to Minin and Pozharsky, who rallied Russia's volunteer army during the Time of Troubles and drove out the invading Polish forces. They were an interesting duo - Dmitry Pozharsky was a prince, while Kuzma Minin was a butcher from Nizhny Novgorod. We took so many pictures trying to get the right one and still none do justice to the delightfully extravagant cathedral.




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darlene