OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2011. Ingosstrakh Insurance Company has become the official partner of the Scientific Conference „”St. Basil’s Cathedral in Russian History and Culture, 450 Years of the Temple”. Among the Conference participants were Head of Old Russian Art Department of Arts State Institute, Livshits Lev, Deputy General Director of the State Museum of History and Culture ”The Moscow Kremlin”; Batalov Andrey, leading expert in archeology, Head of Moscow Archeology Sector at Archeology Institute, RAS Belyaev Leonid and others. Important issues of history, architecture and arts were on the agenda, and well as those relating to restoration and preservation of St. Basil’s Cathedral and other medieval sites of architecture.

St. Basil’s Cathedral is a national patrimony and unique world known monument of church architecture, and also the symbol of Moscow, Russia as well as of Russia’s victories on the battlefields. As is known, the Pokrov Cathedral which is „motte and bailey” was built in the 16th century by order of Ivan the Terrible to celebrate the victory over the Kazan Khanate, a part of the former Golden Horde.

The Cathedral was about to be destroyed on several occasions during centuries of its existence. It survived fires during maintenance work which has been conducted on a regular basis since the end of the 16th century. It’s a wonder that the Cathedral survived an attempt of being torn down in 1918. In 1923, there was a resolution to create a history and archeology museum to regulate the Cathedral. In 1928, the Cathedral was submitted to the authority of the State Museum of History. Despite being in constant restoration state, the museum was always open for visitors, and only closed once in history, during World War II. Since 1990, the Cathedral is on the UN World Heritage list. In November 1990, the temple became functioning, first pernoctation and liturgy was served, and during the service of consecration its bells rang. Since then, the Cathedral has been confirmed to be under joint authority of the State Museum of History and also the Russian Orthodox Church.

At present, St. Basil’s Cathedral means a lot to every Russian, no matter what his/her social status, confession or age is. This is a piece of art and architecture and also the spiritual heritage of the Russian people which is being masterfully preserved by professional restorers for future generations.

The refurbishment conducted by the State Museum of History, which ended in 2001 gave us St. Basil’s Cathedral magnificently fresh and „in new colors”.

The Cathedral presentation ceremony preceded the Conference start-up.