Once described as looking like a "box of confectionery", the spectacular St Basil's Cathedral is possibly Moscow's most famous landmark and a symbol of Russia recognised the world over.
Its multi-coloured onion domes tower over Red Square in a design that mashes eastern and western influences to create an iconic religious attraction that looks as though it was designed for a Hollywood movie rather than as a gift to God.
Officially named the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat, St Basil was built by Ivan the Terrible to mark the capture of Kazan in 1552. However, it's known as St Basil's because the Russian Orthodox saint Basil the Blessed, or Brian the Fool, was buried on the original Trinity Church that stood on its grounds.
The myths and legends attached to the building are legion - it is said that Ivan had the architects blinded so they couldn't build anything else that would compare with the beauty of St Basil's, a "fact" dismissed as mere folklore by historians.
One fact that is not in doubt is that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin wanted to raze St Basil's to the ground because its position stopped his forces marching en masse from Red Square.
Architect PyotrBaranovsky stood on its steps and threatened to cut his own throat if the church was demolished. His courage earned him five years in the gulag but saved St Basil's and today it remains a magnet for visitors to the Russian capital, intrigued by its ornate exterior and vividly painted interiors.
St Basil's has nine chapels built on a single foundation and its onion domes reflect the eastern influence - elements of the Kazan Qolsharif mosque captured by Ivan the Terrible were included in its construction to symbolise his victory, while the eight domed chapels represent the eight assaults on Kazan.
The ninth chapel, added on the east side for Basil's tomb, is a jarring note in the symmetry and symbolism of the cathedral's design. Its dome is green and gold, studded with golden pyramids. In fact, the colour was all added to the exterior of the cathedral long after its completion - originally, the building was all white and the onion domes were gold, not multi-coloured.
Inside a maze of galleries, with walls painted in floral and geometric patterns, link each chapel and different levels through narrow stairways and low arches. Restoration work in the 1970s revealed a wooden staircase and today visitors enter via its spiral stairs to emerge into the central church with its incredible tented roof and 16 th century iconostasis.
Visitors can also pay their respects to Basil the Fool in his final resting place of a silver casket in his own chapel - legend has it that this eccentric saint, who devoted his life to helping the poor, wandered around Moscow stark naked, regardless of the weather.
Today the cathedral is a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with only one religious service held once a year, on the Day of Intercession in October.
