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St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, circa 1904

Subject
Churches
Card type
Lithograph
Date
c. 1904 (Early)
Front of St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, circa 1904, c. 1904 lithograph postcard
Front
Back of St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, circa 1904, c. 1904 lithograph postcard
Back

About this postcard

A tinted view of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, its cluster of onion domes and tall central tent-roofed tower rising above Red Square. Small figures cross the open ground below, with a low circular structure in the foreground. The cathedral was built in the 1550s and 1560s under Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) to commemorate the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan. It stands at the southern end of Red Square beside the Kremlin, on the edge of the old Kitai-Gorod district. The printed caption calls it the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed and singles out its "quaint and fantastic" architecture, a description that matched the building's reputation for foreign visitors in the pre-revolutionary years.

Postcard Details

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PublisherRaphael Tuck & Sons
Москва. — Соборъ Василія Блаженнаго. Moscou. — Cathédrale de St. Basile-Blajennoy. The Cathedral of St. Basil. This handsome building, noted for its quaint and fantastic style of architecture, stands in the Kitai-Gorod. It was erected during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1554). La Cathédrale de St. Basile connue pour sa construction fantastique et bizarre se trouve dans le Kitai-Gorod et fut construite sous Iwan le Terrible.
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Postcard record

PublisherRaphael Tuck & Sons
SeriesThe "WIDE-WIDE-WORLD" Series, MOSCOW. Postcard No. 7675
ConditionVery good
Place depictedSt. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia
Place mentionedMoscow, Russia
NotesFull-bleed colored lithograph with rounded corners; light corner and edge wear. Artist's signature 'Ole[?]' in the image, lower right. Penciled dealer number '6143' on the back. No postmark; unused divided-back Tuck's "OILETTE" card (No. 7675), printed in England, c. 1904–1918. Light foxing and surface soiling; no handwriting.

Cite this card

St. Basil's Cathedral, Moscow, Russia, circa 1904, postcard, c. 1904. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/st-basils-cathedral-moscow-russia-circa-1904. Accessed November 3, 2026.