Although Moscow has many attractive places that you can visit during your travel to Russia, it doesn’t have enough to offer as much as you can expect to see on tour to St. Petersburg. However, it still has loads of places that you should visit on your trip to Russia, and like St. Petersburg, there are various types of things that are included on tour to Moscow. One of the major attractions of Moscow is its churches and cathedrals. Although you won’t have as much of a difficulty visiting Moscow’s top attractions as you would have when you visit St. Petersburg, your time on the tour to Moscow is still not enough to see all the attractions. That’s why you still need to put some of Moscow’s attractions on your visit-list since you can’t visit all of them on one trip to Moscow. There are various types of things that you can visit and do in Moscow, and one of them is visiting religious sites, such as monasteries, cathedrals, churches, and holy sites. However, not all the sacred sites in Moscow are places of interest for tourists and travel agencies. The ones that can be a place of interest are more than enough for one short trip to Moscow. We at Star Travel Group have decided to introduce these places to our travelers, so they can choose to visit a place out of their travel to Russia plan. While we have done this before with other places, such as museums, shopping places, military museums, and other things, which you can find on our weblog, this time, we have decided to tell you about the top churches on Moscow tour. Some of them will be included on your tour to Moscow, and some of them are places that you have to visit in your free time.
St. Basil’s Cathedral
You can’t talk about Moscow’s significant attractions without naming one of Russia’s famous symbols, especially if you’re listing the top religious attractions of Moscow. St. Basil’s Cathedral has become one of the unofficial symbols of Russia. Many people around the world would recognize St. Basil’s Cathedral whenever they see it in pictures; that’s one reason why tourists would gather around this church to take pictures and have a souvenir from their trip to Moscow. Like most of the major attractions of Moscow, this cathedral locates on the Red Square beside the Kremlin. One of the reasons behind the popularity of this cathedral on tour to Russia is its different shapes and architecture for a cathedral. Both the unique exterior of this cathedral and its interior are interesting for tourists and travel agencies, and they will recommend you visit this place during your tour to Russia. You can also find several temporary exhibitions inside the cathedral as well as various exciting wall paintings, icons, and other religious items. We at the Star Travel recommend our tourists visit this cathedral when they have their tour around Red Square on their tour to Moscow.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
After the October revolution of 1917, many things changed for better or worst; but the Soviet-era didn’t go well for religious sites and churches. The Soviet Government had lots of anti-religious plans, in which many religious symbols were demolished all over Russia, including several famous churches and cathedrals. One of the most famous cathedrals that had been destroyed during the Soviet era was the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Although the Soviet’s plans to replace the cathedral with the Soviet Palace never happened, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour had demolished in 1931. However, in the 1990s, the construction of a new cathedral in the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was granted to the Orthodox Church, which led to the development of the new cathedral in 1995. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is one of Moscow’s major attractions, which you can visit during your Moscow tour. This magnificent structure has become one of the main places that tourists would visit during their travel to Russia, and it locates near Red Square, which makes it perfect for tourists to visit it while sightseeing in the center of the city.
Kazan Cathedral
Even during the Soviet Union era, some people wanted to save religious sites because of their history, architecture, and their impact on the people, such as Peter Baranovsky. The latter had tried to keep two of the famous religious sites on Red Square, the St. Basil’s Cathedral and Kazan Cathedral. However, he only managed to save one of them, and as a result, the Kazan Cathedral was demolished in the 1930s. An office was built on its site, which, after a while, had turned to a summer café, but due to the efforts of Peter Baranovsky, the blueprints of the cathedral were saved, and the cathedral was later constructed again with the same design in the 1990s. Currently, it’s one of the major attractions of Russia tour, which you can visit when you travel to Russia.
Kremlin’s Cathedral
Kremlin is one of the most significant attractions of the Moscow tour, which almost all the tourists will visit it during their stay in Moscow. It’s also the center of the city, which makes it even harder for tourists of Russia tour to avoid it on their journey through Russia. It also houses several significant attractions of the tour to Moscow, including several museums, cathedrals, and palaces. The three notable Kremlin’s Cathedral was quite crucial during the imperial era, and each one of them had a specific task. The Cathedral of Annunciation had host most of the weddings and baptisms ceremonies of the imperial family. The imperial family and the Russian army had celebrated their victories in battles and wars in the Cathedral of Archangel, which is also the burial place of some of the rulers and relatives of the Russian imperial family. The Cathedral of Dormition, the oldest cathedral in Kremlin, used to hold the coronation ceremony of Russian rulers. As you can see, each one of these cathedrals was important in their way for the imperial family. You can learn about them before the beginning of your travel to Moscow on our weblog.
Church of the Deposition of the Robe
There are two other small churches inside Kremlin, which are essential on tour to Moscow if you’re interested in learning about the Orthodox Church on your travel to Russia. Among all the structures inside Kremlin, the Church of the Deposition of the Robe is one of the modest one in both design and size. It’s also one of the few buildings that weren’t constructed by famous architects, as a team of architects from Pskov had designed it. However, tourists who decide to visit this church on their tour to Russia will find interesting paintings, icons, and religious items inside the church, which is the main attraction of this place rather than its exterior design.
The Church of Twelve Apostles
The other church inside Kremlin is the Church of Twelve Apostles, which is attached to the Patriarch Palace. Although these two buildings are separated from each other, they were recognized as one complex. One of the major attractions of this church on Russia tour is the second floor of the building, which also known as the Chrism Room. Chrism Room was the ceremonial hall of the Patriarch Palace, and it’s in the shape of a cross. Most tourists who have visited this place during their tour to Russia have been surprised by its architecture and interior design.
Most of these churches and cathedrals are also operating as museums since, after the October Revolution, almost all of them had turned to museums. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they still keep their relationship with the museums. You can learn more about each one of these places on our weblog as well as other interesting facts about the tour to Moscow, our tips about how to travel to Russia, and finding the best places to visit during your journey through Russia.
