St. Basil's Cathedral – The Fairy Tale Castle Cake at Dusk

View from Vasilievsky Spusk (Basil’s Slope) on the wonderful St. Basil's Cathedral against the glowing dark blue dusk sky in the summer evening.

The beautiful church was built in the middle of 16th century (1555-1561) to commemorate Ivan the Terrible's successful military campaign against the Tartar Mongols in 1552 in the besieged city of Kazan. The victory came on the feast day of the Intercession of the Virgin, so the Tsar chose to name his new church the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin on the Moat, after the moat that ran beside the Kremlin. The church was given the nickname "St. Basil's" after the "holy fool" Basil the Blessed (1468-1552), who was hugely popular at that time with the Muscovites masses and even with Ivan the Terrible himself.

Photo #359 taken on July 16, 2016, during Moscow by Night city tour with my dear clients from USA, Andrew and Karen Green.