Postnik Yakovlev

Postnik Yakovlev, born in Pskov in the 16th century, was a Russian architect best known as one of the builders of Saint Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow, built between 1555 and 1560 with a second architect called Barma. It is thought he was nicknamed Barma, although his full name may in fact have been Ivan Yakovlevich Barma, or Barma may have been his assistant. Legend says Ivan the Terrible blinded him so that he could never build anything so beautiful again, but this is probably a myth, since he designed the walls of the Kazan Kremlin and the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Kazan in 1561 and 1562 with the master Ivan Shirjay. He also designed the northeast chapel of Saint Basil's in 1588. Some historians credit him with churches in Staritsa, Murom, Sviazhsk and perhaps Vladimir, though others say that was another architect with a similar name.