Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior (), is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located in Moscow on Sparrow Hill, on the banks of the Moskva River, it is known for having been demolished in the 1930s for the construction of the Palace of the Soviets, which was never made.

 History 


The Original Cathedral had been built by order of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, in honor of Christ the Savior, stating on December 25, 1812: "To express our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the Ruin that overshadowed it" (due to the Napoleonic Wars), the design of the cathedral was in charge of the architect Aleksandr Lavrentyevich Vitberg in 1817, who designed it with a Neoclassical design in the style of Masonic Symbolism, after the succession of Alexander I by his brother, Nicholas I, he would not like the architecture of the previous design and would hire his trusted architect Konstantin Thon.


The new architect would be based on the design of Neo-Byzantinism, and would be based on Hagia Sophia (Previously the Basilica of Saint Sophia until the Fall of Constantinople), in Istanbul and in 1832 the Russian Architectural Renaissance would be approved, in the place a old Convent and Church and the first stone would be laid until 1839, the interior would be painted by the best Russian painters of the time and the scaffolding would not be removed until 1860, and the dome would be placed using the Electroplating technique,The history of galvanoplating in Russia   and in 1882 Tchaikovsky would premiere the 1812 Overture, even though the cathedral was half finished, it would finally be consecrated on May 26, 1883, one day after the coronation of Alexander III, its interior had paintings of Russian saints and the Napoleonic withdrawal from Moscow.Ратьковский И.С., Ходяков М.В. (1999). История Советской России, Изд-во "Лань", pp. 137-149.

After the Russian Revolution, the place was closed due to religious persecution in Russia. After the death of Lenin and succession by Stalin, he saw the Churches in Moscow as an unnecessary space and would decide to demolish them. In the place of the Cathedral, the Construction of a Palace for the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and in 1930 this idea would start, this work would be in charge of Mikhail Kalinin and before demolishing the cathedral, around 25 tons of gold would be removed, Stalin saw the cathedral as an unnecessary luxury for the Soviet state and the demolition would begin on July 23, 1931 to try to erase Russia's imperial past, which this cathedral represented.


After the demolition the land would be flattened and a ditch would be made, and in 1938 the foundations of the new palace would be laid but the construction would stop due to the flooding of the river and the German invasion of the USSR, the material for the palace would be destined for the war, the project would try to resume construction but finally it would be canceled in 1957 and the Moskva Pool would be built in the place, the largest heated pool in the world, after the Fall of the USSR, many people asked for the reconstruction of the cathedral which would begin in 1995 to be finally consecrated in 2000, would be reconstructed in detail based on photos and the original plan of the Konstantin Thon cathedral.


The punk rock group Pussy Riot organized a Guerrilla rig in front of this cathedral due to the support of the Orthodox Church to Vladimir Putin, three of the members were arrested.

 References 

 Other websites 

Travel2moscow.com – Official Moscow Guide
Official website, with full details of the construction and reconstruction history.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow by Evgenia Kirichenko
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow: A Russian Allegory
Churches Around the World Archive 
360° Virtual Tour of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

Category:Cathedrals
Category:1883 establishments in Europe
Category:1931 disestablishments
Category:2000 establishments in Europe