Each city has its own symbol, which it unmistakably recognizable. For Moscow, it is the Pokrovsky Cathedral on Red Square, better known as St. Basil's Cathedral.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin, or St.Basil's Cathedral, was built in 1555 - 1561 to commemorate the victory of the Russians over Kazan Khannate on 1st October 1552. The Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered two Russian architects (Barma and Postnik) to build a monument in honour of the victory, and it is said he had their eyes poked out so that they could never design anything to rival its beauty.

St. Basil's Cathedral is a federal property. Since 1990, it is used at the same time as a museum (a branch of the State Historical Museum) and a temple where the Russian Orthodox Church conduct services: in the major Saints’ days (the Intercession and St. Basil) the Patriarchal or Episcopal services are conducted. At the shrines of St. Basil's Cathedral the Akathist is being read every Sunday.