Ivan the Terrible commissioned Saint Basil's Cathedral to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, and it was built from 1555 to 1561. The architects are named as Barma and Postnik Yakovlev, though who designed it is uncertain. A legend says Ivan had the architect blinded, but many historians consider this a myth.
The plan is unusual: nine churches stand on one shared base, eight around a central core. The central tent roof rises to a maximum height of 156 feet (47.5 m), and nine onion domes crown the whole. Red brick forms the churches over white stone foundations. The style is disputed, but the cathedral is considered a prime example of Russian Renaissance architecture. Its colors were completed in 1848.
French troops used it as stables in 1812, and Napoleon's order to destroy it was never carried out. Soviet authorities confiscated it, and it has been a museum branch since 1928. UNESCO listed it in 1990.
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