Editing Saint Basil's Cathedral (section)

=== Allegory of Jerusalem ===
[[File:Shestviye na oslyati.jpg|thumb|Palm Sunday procession (Dutch print, 17th century).]]

Construction of wrap-around ground-floor arcades in the 1680s visually united the nine churches of the original cathedral into a single building.<ref name=K402/> Earlier, the clergy and the public perceived it as nine distinct churches on a common base, a generalized [[allegory]] of the Orthodox Heavenly City similar to fantastic cities of medieval [[Miniature (illuminated manuscript)|miniatures]].<ref name=K402/><ref>Shvidkovsky 2007, p. 128, provides a summary of studies of the [[ideology]] of the cathedral</ref> At a distance, separate churches towering over their base resembled the towers and churches of a distant [[citadel]] rising above the [[defensive wall]].<ref name=K402/> The abstract allegory was reinforced by real-life religious rituals where the church played the role of the biblical [[Temple in Jerusalem]]:

{{blockquote| The capital city, Moscow, is split into three parts; the first of them, called [[Kitai-gorod]], is encircled with a solid thick wall. It contains an extraordinary beautiful church, all clad in shiny bright gems, called Jerusalem. It is the destination of an annual [[Palm Sunday]] walk, when the [[Grand Prince of Moscow|Grand Prince]]<ref>The style of [[Grand Prince of Moscow]], used by Petreius, has been in disuse for nearly seventy years, replaced by the style of [[Tsar]].</ref> must lead a [[donkey]] carrying the Patriarch, from the Church of Virgin Mary to the church of Jerusalem which stands next to the citadel walls. Here is where the most illustrious princely, noble and merchant families live. Here is, also, the main muscovite marketplace: the trading square is built as a brick rectangle, with twenty lanes on each side where the merchants have their shops and cellars ...
| [[Peter Petreius]]| History of the Great Duchy of Moscow, 1620<ref>{{lang|ru|Эта столица Москва разделяется на три части, первая из них называется Китай-город и обнесена толстой и крепкой стеной. В этой части города находится чрезвычайно красивой постройки церковь, крытая светлыми блестящими камнями и называемая Иерусалимом. К этой церкви ежегодно, в Вербное Воскресенье, великий князь должен водить осла, на котором из крепости едет патриарх, от церкви Девы Марии до церкви Иерусалима, стоящей перед крепостью. Тут же живут самые знатные княжеские, дворянские и купеческие семейства... }} – Petreius, pp. 159–160. Petreius visited Moscow in 1601–1605 and described the city as it existed before the [[Time of Troubles]].</ref>}}

{{blockquote| Templum S. Trinitatis, etiam Hierusalem dicitur; ad quo Palmarum fest Patriarcha asino insidens a Caesare introducitur.<br />Temple of Holy Trinity, also called Jerusalem, to where the tsar leads the Patriarch, sitting on a donkey, on the Palm Holiday.
| [[Legend (map)|Legend]] of ''Peter's map of Moscow'', 1597, as reproduced in the [[Atlas Maior|Bleau Atlas]]<ref>Komech, Pluzhnikov, graphic supplement.</ref>}}

The last [[donkey walk]] ({{lang|ru|хождение на осляти}}) took place in 1693.<ref name=B181>Bushkovitch, p. 181</ref> {{ill|Mikhail Petrovich Kudryavtsev|ru|Кудрявцев, Михаил Петрович}} noted that ''all'' [[Crucession|cross processions]] of the period began, as described by Petreius, from the Dormition Church, passed through [[Spasski clock|St. Frol's (Saviour's) Gate]] and ended at Trinity Cathedral.<ref name=K85>Kudryavtsev, p. 85</ref> For these processions the Kremlin itself became an open-air temple, properly oriented from its "[[narthex]]" ([[Cathedral Square, Moscow|Cathedral Square]]) in the west, through the "[[Royal Doors|royal doors]]" (Saviour's Gate), to the "[[sanctuary]]" (Trinity Cathedral) in the east.<ref name=K85/>