Chapter La cattedrale di San Basilio a Mosca: nuove considerazioni sulle fonti

Overview & Synopsis

This study presents two sources on the Church of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Moat in Moscow (1555-61), more commonly known as St. Basil’s Cathedral, that have so far been neglected in the scholarly debate on the monument in Russia and in the West. They consist of two manuscripts written between the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: Essay on Russian Antiquities (Opyt o russkich drevnostjach v Moskve) by Nikolay L’vov and Moscow and Its Surroundings… (Moskva s okrestnost’jami …) by Nikolay Karamzin. Interestingly, these two sources agree in attributing the church to an Italian architect. This article analyzes the two sources with particular attention to the historical and cultural context in which they were written.