St. Basil's Cathedral is painted in a potpourri of saturated, bright colors that dominate all other buildings in the Red Square. The color scheme has evolved considerably since the complex was constructed, and the current colors were chosen and applied between 1680 and 1848. The originals, which were more muted, were chosen in accordance with descriptions of the new Jerusalem found in the scriptural Book of Revelation:
“And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.”
As Russian aesthetics developed and artists learned to create more vibrant pigments, church hierarchs decided to brighten the Cathedral's outward appearance. By 1848, the tower’s colors were finalized. (Watkin, 2005)
Close up of St. Basil's exterior, Via Wikimedia Commons
Every element of St. Basil’s, like any Orthodox Church, has theological significance. The Catherdral’s churches are not uniformly sized or constructed, as the four large churches are sunk into deep foundations with Church of Intercession at the center. The smaller churches were constructed on floating platforms and (intentionally) seem to hover above the ground. These elements combine to mimic Orthodox Churches in all countries, designed and decorated in a way that worshippers feel that they are in a space that is halfway between earth and heaven.
The Church of Intercession itself carries through the same notion of divinity. It is 155 feet tall internally, with a tight sanctuary that measures only 210 square feet. The majority of the sanctuary space is vertical, with a soaring central tower that culminates in a shining gold dome topped by a three-bar cross. The exterior of the tower is carved and painted with icons, Orthodox paintings depicting important events and people in salvation history.
The icons at the top of the tower's interior are so high up in the air that worshippers cannot see all of them. But not for lack of trying—all Orthodox Christian divine services are served while the celebrants and congregation are standing. There are no chairs in Saint Basil's, but today, many Orthodox churches will have a small row of folding chairs for the elderly, sick or pregnant worshippers. (Schvidkovsky, 2007)
Most of St. Basil's Cathedral was built with vibrant red bricks, a new and daring building material for 16th-century Russia. In fact, brick was such an exciting attention-grabber that the builders eschewed stone carvings altogether and decorated the Cathedral's outside surfaces with complicated designs also made from bricks. These three-dimensional touches are highly unusual in Orthodox architecture because the Church forbids any kind of statuary or carvings, including bas-reliefs. Interior adornments may only come in the form of icons, painted in egg tempera on a backing of pure gold leaf. (Perrier, 2002) The decision to use ornamental brickwork on the exterior of St. Basil's was likely approved only because the designs are abstract and aren’t representative of any particular person or historical event.
In the mid-20th century, broad sections of the brickwork were replaced; when the old, damaged bricks were removed, contractors discovered that the entire church had been constructed out of bricks stacked up around an intricate wooden frame of thin wooden strips. The frame was built first, like a giant-sized dress form, and gradually entombed within multiple layers of bricks. For structural reasons, several load-bearing walls were made out of heavy stone. Tsar Ivan, however, was very concerned that St. Basil's have a uniform outward appearance, so he ordered his masons to cover the stone parts with stucco and paint imitation bricks upon it. (Perrier, 2002)