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St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

Olaf TostJuly 6, 2015

It consists of nine individual churches - one in the middle with eight around the corners. They were all constructed to commemorate the Russian victory over the Tartars at Kazan.

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Today the cathedral on Moscow's Red Square is a history museum where Russian-Orthodox services also take place. When it was originally built in 1561 for Tsar Ivan the Terrible it was white and the domes were covered in gold leaf. The church's appearance has changed repeatedly over centuries. According to legend, the onion shaped domes are supposed to be reminiscent of the turbans of the defeated Tartars.