Editing Saint Basil's Cathedral (section)

== Architectural style ==
[[File: Kolomenskoye cerkvi-1879.jpg|thumb|left|Ascension Church in [[Kolomenskoye]] (far left), a probable influence on the cathedral,<ref name=K400/> and the Dyakovo church (centre)<ref>Artwork distorts perspective and placement of two churches. In real life, they are about 400 meters from each other and are separated by hills and a deep ravine.</ref>]]

Because the church has no analog—in the preceding, contemporary, or later architecture of Muscovy and Byzantine cultural tradition, in general,<ref name=" S126"/>—the sources that inspired Barma and Postnik are disputed. [[Eugène Viollet-le-Duc]] rejected European roots for the cathedral, opining that its [[corbel arch]]es were Byzantine and ultimately Asian.<ref>Cracraft, Rowland p. 95</ref> A modern "Asian" hypothesis considers the cathedral a recreation of [[Qolşärif Mosque]], which was destroyed by Russian troops after the Siege of Kazan.<ref name=RIA>{{cite web | url=http://www.rian.ru/society/20060629/50662033.html | title=Sobor Vasilia Blazhennogo&nbsp;– machete (Собор Василия Блаженного&nbsp;– зашифрованный образ погибшей мечети) | publisher=[[RIA Novosti]] | date=29 June 2006 | language=ru | access-date=28 September 2009 }}</ref>

Nineteenth-century Russian writers, starting with [[Ivan Zabelin]],<ref name=K402/> emphasized the influence of the [[vernacular architecture|vernacular]] wooden churches of the Russian North; their [[Motif (visual arts)|motifs]] made their ways into masonry, particularly the [[votive offering|votive churches]] that did not need to house substantial [[wikt: congregation|congregations]].<ref>Moffett et al. p. 162</ref> [[David Watkin (historian)|David Watkin]] also wrote of a blend of Russian and Byzantine roots, calling the cathedral "the climax" of Russian vernacular wooden architecture.<ref>Watkin, pp. 102–103</ref>

The church combines the staggered layered design of the earliest (1505–1508) part of the [[Ivan the Great Bell Tower]],<ref>Brunov, pp. 71, 73, 75</ref> the central tent of the [[Kolomenskoye|Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye]] (1530s), and the cylindric shape of the Church of Beheading of John the Baptist in Dyakovo (1547);<ref name=K400/> but the origin of these unique buildings is equally debated. The Church in Kolomenskoye, according to Sergei Podyapolsky, was built by Italian [[Petrok Maly]],<ref name=BD89>Buseva-Davydova, p. 89</ref> although mainstream history has not yet accepted his opinion. Andrey Batalov revised the year of completion of Dyakovo church from 1547 to the 1560s–70s, and noted that Trinity Church could have had no tangible predecessors at all.<ref>Batalov, p. 16</ref>

[[File:St Basil's Cathedral Line Drawing.png|thumb|Front elevation drawing of the cathedral's façade and overhead view of floor plan]] [[Dmitry Shvidkovsky]] suggested that the "improbable" shapes of the Intercession Church and the [[Kolomenskoye|Church of Ascension in Kolomenskoye]] manifested an emerging national [[renaissance]], blending earlier Muscovite elements with the influence of [[Italian Renaissance]].<ref>Shvidkovsky 2007, p. 7</ref> A large group of Italian architects and craftsmen continuously worked in Moscow in 1474–1539, as well as [[Greeks|Greek]] refugees who arrived in the city after the [[fall of Constantinople]].<ref name=S6/> These two groups, according to Shvidkovsky, helped Moscow rulers in forging the [[doctrine]] of [[Third Rome]], which in turn promoted [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] of contemporary Greek and Italian culture.<ref name=S6>Shvidkovsky 2007, p. 6</ref> Shvidkovsky noted the resemblance of the cathedral's floorplan to Italian concepts by [[Antonio da Sangallo the Younger]] and [[Donato Bramante]], but most likely [[Filarete]]'s ''Trattato di architettura''. Other Russian researchers noted a resemblance to sketches by [[Leonardo da Vinci]], although he could not have been known in Ivan's Moscow.<ref name=S1289>Shvidkovsky 2007, pp. 128–129</ref> Nikolay Brunov recognized the influence of these prototypes but not their significance;<ref>Brunov, p. 62</ref> he suggested that mid-16th century Moscow already had local architects trained in Italian tradition, [[architectural drawing]] and [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]], and that this culture was lost during the [[Time of Troubles]].<ref>Brunov, p. 44</ref>

[[File:St. Basil Cathedral.jpg|thumb|Crowd in [[Red Square]] in front of the cathedral|alt=|left|300x300px]]

Andrey Batalov wrote that judging by the number of novel elements introduced with Trinity Church, it was most likely built by German craftsmen.<ref name=BD89/> Batalov and Shvidkovsky noted that during Ivan's reign, [[Germans]] and [[English people|Englishmen]] replaced Italians, although German influence peaked later during the reign of [[Mikhail I of Russia|Mikhail Romanov]].<ref name=BD89/> German influence is indirectly supported by the [[Rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] [[pilaster]]s of the central church, a feature more common in contemporary Northern Europe than in Italy.<ref name=B125>Brunov, p. 125</ref>

The 1983 academic edition of ''Monuments of Architecture in Moscow'' takes the middle ground: the church is, most likely, a product of the complex interaction of distinct Russian traditions of wooden and stone architecture, with some elements borrowed from the works of Italians in Moscow.<ref name=K401>Komech, Pluzhnikov p. 401</ref> Specifically, the style of brickwork in the vaults is Italian.<ref name=K401/>