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Friday, 27.07.2007
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour: A Phoenix among Moscow’s Churches
1812. The ragged remnant of Napoleon’s 600,000 strong army escaped from the pursuing Russian army over the border to the West. Tsar Alexander I. proclaimed that to honour the victorious Russian army, and give thanks to God, he would build a large church in Moscow.
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Building started in 1817. But the project was ill-starred from the very beginning. Problems with groundwater forced the architects to put a stop to work. In 1832, things started moving again. Tsar Nicholas I personally chose a new location. The cathedral was to rise directly on the banks of the Moskva, not far from the Kremlin.
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And this was indeed what came to pass. Slowly. It took until 1839 for the cornerstone to be laid. By 1862 the roof was finished, and by 1881 even the interior frescos. It had taken over forty years to build the 103-meter high place of worship. There was enough room inside to engrave the names of all the Russia heroes who had fought Napoleon.
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But the church stood on a very tempting spot, and in 1931, the despot Stalin had it blown up, to make way for a massive ‘Palace of Soviets’.
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| Coordinates |
Ul. Volchonka
Nearest metro station: Kropotkinskaya |
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It was intended for the monumental new building to be by far the world’s highest skyscraper. There are numerous legends in circulation about why the megalomaniac plans were never implemented. Only the foundations were ever dug. After the Second World War, the site was used for Moscow’s most popular open-air swimming pool.
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The reconstruction of the church after the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major joint building project of the Orthodox Church with the Moscow mayor Yurii Luzhkov, whose court architect Surab Zereteli was entrusted with the interior design.
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It took only a few years and 250 million dollars for the church to be rebuilt for the Moscow Patriarch. And now even its most vehement opponents have reconciled themselves with the very controversial reconstruction of Moscow’s largest church.
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From the outside, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour resembles the original from the 19th century.
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But the cathedral, as well as accommodating a congregation of 10,000, also provides its Orthodox dignitaries with both a modern conference hall and an underground car park. This cathedral is now also open for visitors. The (not exactly cheap) view from the church tower is splendid.
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