When you think of Russian architecture, St. Basil's Cathedral may come to mind. Its bright colors and multiple domes are world-famous. At first, the cathedral was painted white with golden domes. The bright colors were not added until the 1860s. The inside is just as amazing as the outside with its beautifully painted walls and impressive stone staircases.
Tsar Ivan the Terrible had the cathedral built in 1552 to celebrate winning a battle against the Mongolian Empire. It is not clear who the builders were, but some records give the names Barma and Postnik Yakovlev as the architects. According to popular legend, Ivan the Terrible had Barma and Postnik Yakovlev's eyes cut out so that the architects could never build such a beautiful building again. Experts do not believe this is true.
The cathedral was designed with a special shape. It has a tall tower or church in the middle with eight churches or towers of different heights around it. This shape may represent the church in Jerusalem, or it may represent an eight-pointed star. Architectural experts are not sure. Whatever its shape represents, one thing is certain. There is no other building in the world like it.