Pokrovsky Cathedral.

Saint Basil the Blessed, also Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny or Pokrovsky Sobor, church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible), as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.

The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny (St. Basil the Beatified) after Basil, the Russian holy fool who was “idiotic for Christ’s sake” and who was buried in the church vaults during the reign (1584–98) of Tsar Fyodor I.

The church was designed by two Russian architects, Posnik and Barma (who may in fact have been one person). According to popular legend, however, it was built by an Italian architect who was blinded so that he could never create anything that was similar or equal.

The letter is in front of the postcard:

"Berlin

Hamburg

Dresden

Leipzig

Koln

Hannover

Magdeburg

Posen

Stuttgart

Essen

Moscow

06/03/1905

Moscow".