RUSSIA

St. Basil's Cathedral

Page Contents
General information
Indispensable Web Sites
Visa Information
To Obtain a Tourist Visa
Model Cover Letter
Notes on Obtaining a Visa
Extending a Tourist Visa
Notes about St. Basil's Cathedral

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General Information 

Indispensable Web Sites for Russian travel: 
Although this is a commercial site, this may be the best the web has to offer regarding travel to Russia. Please look it over. You can read about visas, see what one looks like, as well as the visa support document, the new migration card, even the deklaratsia. (Note that in most cases travelers will NOT need to complete the deklaratsia unless you have over 3000 USD in cash or other valuables.) You can find out about registration and other important matters regarding Russian visas: WayToRussia.net. They also have good information about the Trans-Siberian and things to do at the stops along the way.

For the locations of Russian consulates around the world check: Russianembassy.net OR visatorussia.com.

The main page of the Russian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs has links to pages in English, French, Spanish and German. MID. The start of the Russian listing of all the consulates can be found here: list of Russian consulates.

For Russian train information including trains to/from Europe and China check here: Your Train - CIS Railway Timetable. This is probably the easiest site to navigate in English but it doesn't offer prices or show seat availability. If you do not know the spelling of the city, try typing the first letter or two and you will have a pull down menu from which you can choose. Their purchase service is new (March 2003) and seems to be quite reasonable in comparison to most travel agencies and the actual price at the station, but it is limited to delivery in Moscow.

The ticket prices change with the season and a variety of other variables. Other sites will indicate the availability of tickets. The Russian Railway site not only indicates availability but also often shows the prices of tickets that are available. RZD. This site does require that you be able to type in cyrillic or that you cut and paste.

Another site that is useful is Avantix. This site has a pulldown menu so that your computer does not need to be able to type in cyrillic. It offers price information but not availability of seats.

These websites list all the organized hostels in Moscow, Petersburg, Irkutsk and Novgorod:

1. hostels.com
2. hosteleurope.com
3. hosteling-russia.ru

This site has user ratings for hotels: HotelsRussia.

This site has reviews and ratings for hotels in Moscow and Petersburg: Hotel Inspector.

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Visa Information 

There are basically four types of Russian visa: a tourist visa, which is good for a maximum of 30 days and cannot be extended or renewed without leaving the country, a visitors visa, which requires an official invitation from a Russian resident, a business visa, which is good for 30 days, 90 days, even up to a year, and a transit visa, which is only good for a maximum of 72 hours if you fly into Russia, but only one night is permitted in Moscow or ten days if you take the train, but again only one night in Moscow. (Actually there are several others, one for students, one for people for arrive as a group aboard a ship to Petersburg, another for persons participating in sports events or educational programs and the 72 hour short stay visa for European or Japanese citizens, although this last has been discontinued for the moment.)

The easiest visas to obtain are tourist visas. Some consulates will issue double entry tourist visas. The consulates in the US even charge the same amount for a single entry or a double entry visa regardless of the length or type. The next easiest are 30 or 90 day business visas that are single or double entry.

Six month or one year multiple entry visas will be difficult to obtain without legitimate reasons and getting business-visa invitations is slower than it used to be. Invitations for multiple-entry six-month business visas now take a minimum of six weeks. For more information about business visas, you might want to read this article: Multiple entry business visas.

Generally visas cannot be obtained more than 90, and in some cases 45, days prior to the date of entry. This has nothing to do with the consulate, but rather with obtaining the necessary visa support documents. And it has been reported that in some cases companies offering visa support refuse to do so more than 90 days before the date of departure from Russia.

Recent reports indicate that it seems to be possible to get visas 180 days in advance from the consulates in New Zealand and Australia. This seems to be peculiar to these consulates and I have no reports of this being possible in Europe or the US/Canada.

There are several recent reports of hostels and other companies' only being willing to issue tourist visa support (many of the hostels) only for 21 days or less. Most recently this was reported to be the case for Travelers Guest House in Moscow.

Once you have a visa, you are free to travel to most places within Russia. There are some towns and regions that are still restricted. Also there are some regions (Altai and Tuva) that require registration for the region not for the town.

Often when obtaining visa support you are asked to list the cities that you plan to visit. The company providing the documents may shorten this list to only two or three places and list accommodations on the voucher only for these two or three places. This is entirely for convenience sake since the accommodation voucher is a sham and no reservations have been made. Unless you are hoping to go someplace off the beaten track do not worry. Once you have the visa and enter the country, you can travel freely with few exceptions.

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To obtain a Russian tourist visa you need: 

1. A passport valid for at least 30 days after the planned date of arrival in Russia, although in some instances they require a passport valid for 6 months. In some cases you will need a photocopy of your passport, trimmed to the actual size of the passport and attached to the upper left hand corner of the application. If the consulate requires three photos, then the visa will be a separate document. If they require one photo, then usually you will need two facing pages to be blank or at least one page completely blank and part of the facing page.
2. The completed application form, which can be downloaded from the website of most consulates and embassies. The application is the same for everyone except those persons with US passports. A PDF can be downloaded from this page on the website of the Russian consulate in Washington, DC. Russian visa application forms. This web page includes links for both the US citizen application, which is a two page form and the non US citizen application, which is a one page form.
3. One or possibly three Passport photos, one of which is attached to the application in the place indicated with one staple that does not go through the face. The other two, if required, are attached to the photocopy of your passport.
4. A standard tourist confirmation (also called visa support or invitation) from the authorized hosting Russian travel agency or a hotel, registered with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a housing voucher from your hotel or from the travel agency in Russia. The confirmation must contain the agency's reference number and registration number, which are needed to complete the application.
   1. Remember to make copies of these two documents to carry with you, as you may have to present them on entry into Russia. Even if you don't have to present the actual forms, some of the information on them is necessary to complete the migration card.
   2. In the past faxed documents were accepted at most consulates. However, the fax cannot be on flimsy thermal paper. If that's what your fax machine uses, then photocopy the pages onto regular paper. Since the new rules have been put into place, you may need original documents at some consulates. Some people have reported success with printing a scanned invitation sent by email and printed on a laser printer. For specific requirements of particular consulates check this page: Russian Consulate Information.
5. A cover letter from a travel agency OR written by you, containing the following information:
   1. Applicant's name or alphabetical list of a group;
   2. Dates and points of arrival and departure in and from Russia and means of transportation;
   3. Itinerary in Russia (do not include places that are not mentioned on your visa support documents);
   4. Index and reference number of the receiving organization (also known as the travel agency or visa service).

Model Cover Letter Form 

Your Street Address
Your City, Your Country
Your Postal Code

Embassy of the Russian Federation
Consular Division
Street Address of Consulate
City, Country

RE: Tourist Visa

Dear Friends:

The following people are traveling to Russia:
(Alphabetical list of people traveling together)

We are scheduled to arrive at (City Name) airport / train station / bus station / border on (Date of Arrival).

We are scheduled to depart at (City Name) airport / train station / bus station / border on (Date of Departure - this should be the day you cross the border).

We have made our own travel arrangements for flights / trains / buses and have booked our accommodations and arrangements in Russia through (Name of company providing Visa support).

We hope that this information is sufficient for you to authorize tourist visas. Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.

Sincerely,


(Signature of person writing the letter)

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Important Notes: 

• The voucher for housing may not be where you are actually staying. In fact, it is almost always a sham unless you arrange all your accommodations in advance.


• When obtaining visa support it is important to clarify if registration is included in the price and if not, how much this would cost as well as where to go to get registered. Registration is no longer done at the local OVIR office. Except in Moscow, the process requires that you go the local office of internal affairs, which is usually at the local police station. OTOH you probably don't want to spend a day finding out exactly which one to go to, where it is located and then actually getting this done. This is especially true because dealing with Russian bureaucracy is like entering Dante's seventh level of hell: best to be avoided at all costs.


• When obtaining visa support, since the cost of a tourist visa is the same no matter how many days you plan to visit as long as it is less than 30, it is strongly recommended that you request the full 30 days possible for a tourist visa. This will allow for some flexibility in your plans.


• When writing the cover letter, the dates on the cover letter should match the dates on your invitation. These may not match your actual travel dates. Do NOT worry. You can enter Russia anytime after the entry date on your visa and you can depart from Russia any time before the exit date on your visa.


• The rules are different for different consulates and for persons carrying passports from other countries. See this page for Notes about Russian Consulates.


• For holders of passports for most of Europe, Israel and some other countries with national health insurance, proof of travelers health insurance is required. See this list of countries requiring health insurance.


• The consulate also can require to see copies of your round trip ticket or proof of sufficient funds to travel, but usually it is enough to indicate that how, when and where you intend to depart. Tickets are almost never requested unless the passport holder is from a third world country.


• Although uncommon, the consulate can also ask for an interview and for proof that you have sufficient funds to travel for the time period you are requesting.


• It is recommended that you make copies of your visa invitation and accommodations vouchers before submitting this paperwork to the consulate. The consulate does NOT usually return these papers. You will NEED some of the information on these documents to complete the migration card that you are handed at the time of entrance into Russia.


• The piece of paper sometimes stapled into your passport on the page opposite the visa is an entry/exit or arrival/departure card. Half is taken on arrival and the other half is taken at departure. This is NOT the same as the migration card, which is provided at the border. The migration card is also a two part form and half is taken at the time you enter Russia. It is also the piece that gets the registration stamp. Do not lose either of these two scraps of paper.

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To extend a Russian tourist visa you need to: 

• have a tourist visa that was not already issued for 30 days. If your tourist visa was for 30 days, it is impossible for it to be extended further. You will need to leave the country and reenter on a new visa.
• get the assistance of the company that originally issued your visa support. Most companies that issue visa support are unwilling to complete this process. If the company you used is willing to assist, then they will make it happen. If they are not, then it is not possible.

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The background picture and the photo in the upper right are both of the same cathedrals.

Commissioned by Ivan the Terrible to commemorate the capture of Kazan on October 1, 1552, the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God on the Moat is more commonly called St. Basil's Cathedral. It was built between 1555 and 1561 next to the moat which no longer exists. The architects remained unknown until documents were discovered in the late 19th century attributing the construction to "Postnik" and "Barma." More recent information suggests that Postnik Yakovlev had the nickname of "Barma." (the mumbler). Legend has it that after seeing the structure, Ivan the Terrible ordered that the architects be blinded and so unable to build anything so beautiful ever again. Unfortunately, records suggest that Postnik designed the northeast chapel for St. Basil's remains some years later (1588).

The church gained its common appellation from the burial chapel of the Holy Fool St. Basil who died in 1552 while Ivan the Terrible was off battling the Mongols. The holy fools, or fools in Christ, were itinerant ascetics who enjoyed great popularity among the ordinary people of Russia, many of them being revered as saints. Basil had been an outspoken opponent of Ivan IV's great cruelty and was known for the accurateness of his prophesies which included the great Moscow fire of 1547. Canonized shortly after his death, a chapel for his remains was built onto the church's northeast corner.

The church was designed to commemorate the feast days on which the Russian arm had various victories over the Mongols. The final battle at Kazan occurred on the Feast of the Intercession of the Virgin. The large central octagonal tent with golden dome on an unusual "starry" base encloses the chapel, which celebrates that victory. This dome itself stands 32.6 meters high while the total height is 61 meters. The church was the tallest building in Moscow until the addition was added to the Great Bell Tower.

Eight freestanding churches with their own entrances originally surrounded the central chapel, repeating the octagonal motif. Each symbolizes a different saint's day on which a Russian victory occurred. They are divided into two groups of four. Small domes on the diagonal and large at the compass points, their cupolas represent the points on an eight-sided star. Another fire swept through Moscow in 1583 after which the original helmet-shaped cupolas were replaced with eight, different, onion-shaped domes on order of Boris Godunov. These ribbed and faceted domes have been painted since 1670.

The second, large, green freestanding tent on the southeast side was added as a bell tower around 1680. About the same time a roof-covered gallery was attached. Other additions included two small chapels, each with two small green tents that were attached along the side facing the Kremlin wall. The one closest to the Moscow River is the Chapel of the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The one on the Red Square side is the Chapel of Bishop Gregory. The vaulted ceilings of the gallery and walls were decorated with floral designs and tiles about a hundred years later in the 18th century. The central chapel has a Baroque style iconostasis dating from the 19th century, but some of the icons were painted much earlier.

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