Editing Saint Basil's Cathedral (section)

=== Development ===
==== 1583–1596 ====
The original Trinity Church burnt down in 1583 and was refitted by 1593.<ref name=K401/> The ninth sanctuary, dedicated to [[Basil Fool for Christ]] (the 1460s–1552), was added in 1588 next to the north-eastern sanctuary of the Three Patriarchs.<ref name=K401/> Another local fool, Ivan the Blessed, was buried on the church grounds in 1589; a sanctuary in his memory was established in 1672 inside the south-eastern arcade.<ref name=K402/>

The vault of the Saint Basil Sanctuary serves as a reference point in evaluating the quality of Muscovite stonemasonry and engineering. As one of the first vaults of its type, it represents the average of engineering craft that peaked a decade later in the church of the Trinity in Khoroshovo (completed 1596).<ref name=BD29/> The craft was lost in the [[Time of Troubles]]; buildings from the first half of the 17th century lack the refinement of the late 16th century, compensating for poor construction skill with thicker walls and heavier vaults.<ref name=BD29>Buseva-Davudova, p. 29</ref>

==== 1680–1683 ====
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The second, and most significant, round of refitting and expansion took place in 1680–1683.<ref name=K402/> The nine churches themselves retained their appearance, but additions to the ground-floor arcade and the first-floor platform were so profound that Nikolay Brunov rebuilt a composite church from an "old" building and an independent work that incorporated the "new" Trinity Church.<ref name=BS121>Brunov, supplementary volume, p. 121</ref> What once was a group of nine independent churches on a common platform became a monolithic temple.<ref name=BS121/><ref name=K403>Komech, Pluzhnikov p. 403</ref>

The formerly open ground-floor arcades were filled with brick walls; the new space housed [[altar]]s from thirteen former wooden churches erected on the site of Ivan's executions in Red Square.<ref name=K402/> Wooden shelters above the first-floor platform and stairs (the cause of frequent fires) were rebuilt in brick, creating the present-day wrap-around galleries with tented roofs above the porches and vestibules.<ref name=K402/>

The old detached belfry was demolished; its square basement was reused for a new belltower.<ref name=K402/> The tall single [[tented roof]] of this belltower, built in the vernacular style of the [[Alexis I of Russia|reign of Alexis I]], significantly changed the appearance of the cathedral, adding a strong asymmetrical counterweight to the church itself.<ref name=BS123>Brunov, supplementary volume, p. 123</ref> The effect is most pronounced on the southern and eastern facades (as viewed from [[Zaryadye]]), although the belltower is large enough to be seen from the west.<ref name=BS123/>

The first ornamental murals in the cathedral appeared in the same period, starting with floral ornaments inside the new galleries; the towers retained their original brickwork pattern.<ref name=K402/> Finally, in 1683, the church was adorned with a tiled [[cornice]] in yellow and blue, featuring a written history of the church<ref name=K402/> in [[Old Church Slavonic|Old Slavic]] typeface.

==== 1737–1784 ====
In 1737, the church was damaged by a massive fire and later restored by [[Ivan Fyodorovich Michurin|Ivan Michurin]].<ref name="SC70"/> The inscriptions made in 1683 were removed during the repairs of 1761–1784. The church received its first [[figurative art|figurative]] murals inside the churches; all exterior and interior walls of the first two floors were covered with floral ornamentation.<ref name=K402/> The belltower was connected with the church through a ground-floor annex;<ref name=K402/> the last remaining open arches of the former ground-floor arcade were filled during the same period,<ref name=K402/> erasing the last hint of what was once an open platform carrying the nine churches of Ivan's Jerusalem.

==== 1800–1848 ====
[[File:Red Square in Moscow (1801) by Fedor Alekseev.jpg|thumb|Red Square before the [[Fire of Moscow (1812)|great fire of 1812]] ([[Fyodor Alekseyev]], 1802)]]

Paintings of Red Square by [[Fyodor Alekseyev]], made in 1800–1802, show that by this time the church was enclosed in an apparently chaotic cluster of commercial buildings; rows of shops "transformed Red Square into an oblong and closed yard."<ref name=S146>Schmidt, p. 146</ref> In 1800 the space between the Kremlin wall and the church was still occupied by a [[moat]] that predated the church itself.<ref>The moat, fed with waters of the [[Neglinnaya River]], was built in 1508–16 – Komech, Pluzhnikov p. 268</ref> The moat was filled in preparation for the coronation of [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] in 1801.<ref>Schenkov et al., p. 57</ref> The French troops who [[French invasion of Russia|occupied Moscow in 1812]] used the church for stables and looted anything worth taking.<ref name=SC70/> The church was spared by the [[Fire of Moscow (1812)]] that razed [[Kitai-gorod]], and by the troops' failure to blow it up according to [[Napoleon]]'s order.<ref name=SC70/> The interiors were repaired in 1813 and the exterior in 1816. Instead of replacing missing ceramic tiles of the main tent, the Church preferred to simply cover it with a tin roof.<ref name=SC72>Schenkov et al., p. 72</ref>

The fate of the immediate environment of the church has been a subject of dispute between city planners since 1813.<ref name=S130>Schmidt, p. 130</ref> Scotsman [[William Heste|William Hastie]] proposed clearing the space around all sides of the church and all the way down to the [[Moskva River]];<ref name=S132>Schmidt, p. 1,32</ref> the official commission led by [[Fyodor Rostopchin]] and Mikhail Tsitsianov<ref>Schmidt, p. 129</ref> agreed to clear only the space between the church and [[Lobnoye Mesto]].<ref name=S132/> Hastie's plan could have radically transformed the city,<ref name=S130/> but he lost to the opposition, whose plans were finally endorsed by Alexander I in December 1817<ref name=S132/> (the specific decision on clearing the rubble around the church was issued in 1816).<ref name=SC70>Schenkov et al., p. 70</ref>

Nevertheless, actual redevelopment by [[Joseph Bove]] resulted in clearing the rubble and creating Vasilyevskaya (St. Basil's) Square between the church and Kremlin wall by shaving off the crest of the Kremlin Hill between the church and the [[Moskva River]].<ref name=S149/> Red Square was opened to the river, and "St. Basil thus crowned the decapitated [[hillock]]."<ref name=S149>Schmidt, p. 149</ref> Bove built the stone terrace wall separating the church from the pavement of Moskvoretskaya Street; the southern side of the terrace was completed in 1834.<ref name=K402/> Minor repairs continued until 1848, when the domes acquired their present-day colours.<ref name=K401/>

==== 1890–1914 ====
[[File:Vasilij Blazh.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Postcard, early 20th century]]

Preservationist societies monitored the state of the church and called for a proper restoration throughout the 1880s and 1890s,<ref>Schenkov et al., pp. 181–183</ref><ref name=SC396>Schenkov et al., p. 396</ref> but it was regularly delayed for lack of funds. The church did not have a congregation of its own and could only rely on donations raised through public campaigning;<ref name=SC359/> national authorities in [[Saint Petersburg]] and local in Moscow prevented financing from state and municipal budgets.<ref name=SC359>Schenkov et al., p. 359</ref> In 1899 [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] reluctantly admitted that this expense was necessary,<ref name=SC361/> but again all the involved state and municipal offices, including the [[Holy Synod]], denied financing.<ref name=SC361/> Restoration, headed by Andrey Pavlinov (died 1898) and Sergey Solovyov, dragged on from 1896<ref name=SC318>Schenkov et al., p. 318</ref> to 1909; in total, preservationists managed to raise around 100,000 [[roubles]].<ref name=SC361>Schenkov et al., p. 361</ref>

Restoration began with replacing the roofing of the domes.<ref name=SC396/> Solovyov removed the tin roofing of the main tent installed in the 1810s and found many original tiles missing and others discoloured;<ref name=SC396/> after a protracted debate the whole set of tiles on the tented roof was replaced with new ones.<ref name=SC396/> Another dubious decision allowed the use of standard bricks that were smaller than the original 16th-century ones.<ref>Schenkov et al., pp. 396–397</ref> Restorers agreed that the paintwork of the 19th century must be replaced with a "truthful recreation" of historic patterns, but these had to be reconstructed and deduced based on medieval miniatures.<ref name=SC397>Schenkov et al., p. 397</ref> In the end, Solovyov and his advisers chose a combination of deep red with deep green that is retained to the present.<ref name=SC397/>

[[File:The Russian road to China (1910) (14572290017).jpg|150px|thumb|right|Saint Basil's Cathedral in 1910]]
In 1908 the church received its first [[HVAC|warm air heating system]], which did not work well because of heat losses in long air ducts, heating only the eastern and northern sanctuaries.<ref name=SC473>Schenkov et al., p. 473</ref> In 1913 it was complemented with a pumped [[water heating]] system serving the rest of the church.<ref name=SC473/>

==== 1918–1941 ====

During [[World War I]], the church was headed by [[protoiereus]] [[Ivan Vostorgov|Ioann Vostorgov]], a [[nationalism|nationalist]] preacher and a leader of the Black-Hundredist [[Union of the Russian People]]. Vostorgov was arrested by [[Bolshevik]]s in 1918 on a pretext of embezzling nationalized church properties and was executed in 1919. {{citation needed|date=March 2021}} The church briefly enjoyed [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s "personal interest";<ref>Colton, p. 111</ref> in 1923 it became a public museum, though religious services continued until 1929.<ref name=OFS/>

[[Bolshevik]] planners entertained ideas of demolishing the church after Lenin's funeral (January 1924).<ref>Colton, p. 220</ref> In the first half of the 1930s, the church became an obstacle for [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[urbanism|urbanist]] plans, carried out by Moscow party boss [[Lazar Kaganovich]], "the moving spirit behind the reconstruction of the capital".<ref name=A121>Akinsha et al., p. 121</ref> The conflict between preservationists, notably [[Pyotr Baranovsky]], and the administration continued at least until 1936 and spawned [[urban legend]]s. In particular, a frequently-told story is that Kaganovich picked up a model of the church in the process of envisioning Red Square without it, and Stalin sharply responded "Lazar, put it back!" Similarly, Stalin's master planner, architect Vladimir Semyonov, reputedly dared to "grab Stalin's elbow when the leader picked up a model of the church to see how Red Square would look without it" and was replaced by pure [[functionary]] Sergey Chernyshov.<ref>Colton, p. 277</ref>

In the autumn of 1933, the church was struck from the [[Russian cultural heritage register|heritage register]]. Baranovsky was summoned to perform a last-minute survey of the church slated for demolition, and was then arrested for his objections.<ref name=C269>Colton, p. 269</ref> While he served his term in the [[Gulag]], attitudes changed and by 1937 even hard-line Bolshevik planners admitted that the church should be spared.<ref>"St. Basil's was returned to state list in the mid-1930s" – Colton, p. 269</ref><ref>See, for instance, [[Arkady Mordvinov]]'s entry for the second phase of [[Narkomtiazhprom]] contest (1936), with the church in place.</ref> In the spring of 1939, the church was locked, probably because demolition was again on the agenda;<ref>Colton, p. 837</ref> however, the 1941 publication of Dmitry Sukhov's detailed book<ref>{{cite book | title=Pokrovsky sobor (Покровский собор) | publisher=Soviet Academy of Architecture | year=1941 }}</ref> on the survey of the church in 1939–1940 speaks against this assumption.

==== 1947 to present ====
[[File:Stamp of USSR 1174.jpg|thumb|upright|St Basil's on a 1947 postage stamp marking the renovation]]
In the first years after [[World War II]], renovators restored the historical ground-floor arcades and pillars that supported the first-floor platform, cleared up vaulted and caissoned ceilings in the galleries, and removed "unhistoric" 19th-century oil paint murals inside the churches.<ref name=K402/> Another round of repairs, led by Nikolay Sobolev in 1954–1955, restored original paint imitating brickwork, and allowed restorers to dig inside old masonry, revealing the wooden frame inside it.<ref name=K402/> In the 1960s, the tin roofing of the domes were replaced with copper.<ref name=OFS>{{cite web | url=http://www.shm.ru/pokrovskiy.html | title=Pokrovsky Cathedral (in Russian) | publisher=[[State Historical Museum]], official site | access-date=28 September 2009 | language=ru | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216223151/http://www.shm.ru/pokrovskiy.html | archive-date=16 February 2010 | df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The last round of renovation was completed in September 2008 with the opening of the restored sanctuary of St. Alexander Svirsky.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.rian.ru/culture/20080925/151581501.html | title=Pridel Hrama Vasilia Blazhennogo otkryvaetsa posle restavratsii (Придел Храма Василия Блаженного открывается после реставрации) | publisher=[[RIA Novosti]] | language=ru |date=25 September 2008}}</ref> The building is still partly in use today as a museum and, since 1991, is occasionally used for services by the Russian Orthodox Church. Since 1997, Orthodox Christian services have been held regularly. Nowadays, every Sunday at Saint Basil's church, there is a [[divine liturgy]] at 10{{nbsp}}a.m. with an [[Akathist]] to Saint Basil.<ref>https://www.efe.com/efe/english/life/small-russian-church-from-st-basil-complex-re-opens-after-renovations/50000263-3822413 Reopen for services</ref><ref name="patriarchia.ru"/>