Peeking through the gates of Red Square (even before you can see Lenin's tomb or the hulking edifice of GYM) you are mesmerized by St. Basils:
Flanked by the
Kremlin fortress and the GYM shopping center it is anachronistic, an epithet Stalin hurled at it when threatening to have the "eyesore" torn down. Legend has it that a favored architect saved the building by threatening to commit suicide in its stairwell. 
It reminds me of a gumdrop fantasy castle, no wonder it is a favorite backdrop for brides.
Entering the church, I discovered an interior unlike any I've seen (and I've seen a lot of churches). Climbing a set of stairs so steep it required both hands and feet, I was drawn upward by the haunting refrain of hymns. I entered into a startling narrow but enormously tall space. The acoustics were alarming, and unearthly beautiful.
This chamber was the heart of a honeycomb of other "chapels" all petite in circumference but with vast soaring ceilings.
Each chamber displayed an opulently decorated altar.
At night, they light St. Basil's so that it glows like a Faberge Egg against the never fully dark Moscow sky. It is a sight worth the 10 hour flight.
Flanked by the Kremlin fortress and the GYM shopping center it is anachronistic, an epithet Stalin hurled at it when threatening to have the "eyesore" torn down. Legend has it that a favored architect saved the building by threatening to commit suicide in its stairwell. 
It reminds me of a gumdrop fantasy castle, no wonder it is a favorite backdrop for brides.
Entering the church, I discovered an interior unlike any I've seen (and I've seen a lot of churches). Climbing a set of stairs so steep it required both hands and feet, I was drawn upward by the haunting refrain of hymns. I entered into a startling narrow but enormously tall space. The acoustics were alarming, and unearthly beautiful.
This chamber was the heart of a honeycomb of other "chapels" all petite in circumference but with vast soaring ceilings.
Each chamber displayed an opulently decorated altar.
At night, they light St. Basil's so that it glows like a Faberge Egg against the never fully dark Moscow sky. It is a sight worth the 10 hour flight.
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