The Splendour of the Russian Churches, Moscow

In 2006 I visited Saint Petersburg, just after the summer season, I was captivated by the beautiful colours of its buildings and the golden domes rising above a lush green landscape. Yet I had always dreamt of seeing Russia in winter, when snow transforms the scenery into something almost magical, casting a fairy-tale spell over the churches that grace the city.

The splendid imperial Tsarskoye Selo Palace in summer, Saint Petersburg.

In 2011, I experienced Moscow in winter. What I enjoyed most were the many churches scattered throughout the city — indeed, the principal attraction here, in contrast to Saint Petersburg, where the imperial palaces tend to command one’s attention. Having grown up among Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, my eyes were already familiar with their forms and symbolism; the mystical atmosphere these shrines of faith evoke has been part of my life since childhood.

Yet in Moscow I was nevertheless astonished by the golden domes shining beneath the blue winter sky, and by the vivid colours — red, blue and green — set against the intense white of stuccoed walls and fresh snow. Together, they created a spectacle both radiant and surreal.

The Novodevichy Convent, Moscow – a UNESCO World Heritage Site with striking red walls. Photograph by Barbara Athanassiadis

This, I thought, is what it truly means to step into a fairy tale. Gazing at the churches of Moscow, my imagination seemed to travel further east, where the vast steppe once echoed with the presence of the Golden Horde. The vision stirred something deep and vivid within me.

The Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, with its snow-dusted walls and shimmering golden domes, rises like a fairytale castle.

The churches of Saint Petersburg, with their graceful silhouettes and gilded cupolas, reflect the city’s imperial elegance and European spirit. In Moscow, by contrast, the churches appear more ancient and elemental — vividly coloured, clustered, and crowned with shimmering domes — embodying a distinctly Russian vision of faith, history, and artistic imagination.

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