Asolole Wallpaper: St. Basil's Cathedral

Kremlin tower and St. Basil's Cathedral

The "Night Drive through Moscow" series is the result of my four hour drive through the city of Moscow on January 6, Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve. There will be three picture posts representing what you can see in Moscow in four hours on a winter night: this one named "Where Tourists Go"; on Wednesday - "View from a Car Window"; and on Friday - "Where People Live and Work."

The tourist photos are self-explanatory; actual tourists would go to many more places in the city if they had enough time on their hands. The "Car Window" photos were taken literally from a car window -- they will portray things you might not expect to see in Moscow --freeways, casinos, Rolex banners and nice cars. "Where People Live and Work" will contain photos of condos, hotels and office buildings. Remember that this year winter is extraordinary warm and does not represent a usual Russian winter time; usually the streets and roofs are covered with snow.

I was able to visit this many places because the city was empty of cars and people -- everyone was getting ready for a family dinner or attending service at a church. On a work day or holiday shopping night a four mile drive can take two hours. On the night of December 22, when Russians were consumed with holiday shopping, I got stuck in one of these traffic jams. I had to ditch my car on the side walk and come back for it at midnight, only to get caught in another traffic jam on the way home -- it took me an hour to drive five miles at 1 a.m.!

Enjoy the photos in the extended post. Please expect the extended post page to take some time to upload due to the number of photos.

Red Square - view from the distance: Kremlin, GUM, St. Basil's Cathedral

Christ the Savior Cathedral - view from a bridge

Christ the Savior Cathedral - close-up...

Kremlin Wall - view from a bridge

Close-up...

Kremlin: tourist entrance

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's Cathedral - made of Motorola cell phones...

Close-up...

Manezhnaya Square - view of Dvoryansky Dvor building (Russian nobility "club house" later the Museum of Lenin) and glass domes of the underground shopping mall

Manezhnaya Square: Dome of the underground shopping mall

Christmas tree in Red Square

Dvoryansky Dom - view from Red Square

Lenin's tomb (on the right) and Kremlin buildings - view from Red Square

Kremlin tower - view from Red Square

GUM - view from Red Square

Gum - inside the mall

Tourist souvenirs sold near Kremlin: Cold War stereotypes might still scare those who have never been to Russia, but make a great gift to others and good income for the store-owners...

Kremlin driveway: where Putin goes to work...

Building of the Russian Duma (Parliament) - it's nothing special

Mozart concert conducted by Vladimir Spivakov at Dom Muziki (House of Music - the new performance hall in downtown Moscow); this photo was taken on a different night; a tourist should definitely try to catch a show for the experience

Kremlin's southern tower - I don't remember the names of each tower, so please just enjoy the view

Kremlin's southern wall along the bank of the Moscow River

Kremlin - view from the northern side

Christ the Savior Cathedral - originally built between 1839 and 1860 to celebrate the Russian victory over Napoleon. In 1931 the Soviet government dynamited the cathedral to rubble. It was rebuilt between 1996 and 2000.

On the night of Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve

Beautiful interior of Christ the Savior Cathedral - the result of an enormous reconstruction effort

Main Altar

The shiny yellow objects and icons are real gold leaf

Please visit the official cathedral English language website for more information

View of the Kremlin from the banks of the Moscow River

Again Motorola

The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat (Russian: Собор Покрова пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву), popularly known asSaint Basil’s Cathedral (Russian: Собор Василия Блаженного), is a Russian Orthodox church erected on the Red Square in Moscow in 1555–1561. Built on the order of Ivan IV of Russia to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan, it marks the geometric center of the city and the hub of its growth since the 14th century.^[1]^[2] It was the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600.^[3]

The original building, known as “Trinity Church” and later “Trinity Cathedral”, contained eight side churches arranged around the ninth, central church ofIntercession; the tenth church was erected in 1588 over the grave of venerated local saint Vasily (Basil). In the 16th and the 17th centuries the church, perceived as the earthly symbol of the Heavenly City,^[4] was popularly known as the “Jerusalem” and served as an allegory of the Jerusalem Temple in the annual Palm Sundayparade attended by the Patriarch of Moscow and the tsar.