Christ the Savior cathedral

Christ the Saviour Cathedral

Majestic by its exterior and its interior Christ the Saviour Cathedral is the tallest Eastern Orthodox Church in the world. The cathedral was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I "to signify the gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her". The doom's day was postponed and the victory in the Great Patriotic War against Napoleon in 1812 was embodied in the memorial cathedral. The first site was chosen on Sparrow hills, the highest point of Moscow. However, the soil began to subside and the work was stopped. In the reign of the next emperor, Nicolas I, the project was entrusted to his favorite architect, K. Ton. It took 40 years to complete the construction on the new site, on the bank of the Moskva river, near the Kremlin where another large-scale building of this ambiguous architect, the Grand Kremlin Palace, is located. Christ the Saviour Cathedral stood a bit over 40 years when in 1931 by the order of the Soviet government it was blown up to free the room for the construction of The Palace of Soviets. This high-riser was supposed to be higher then the Empire State building. It should have been topped with a gigantic statue of Lenin exceeding the Statue of Liberty 's dimensions. However it was not destined to happen. The project of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted due to the outbreak of war and a lack of funds.

Later on the flooded foundation hole was transformed into the world's largest open air swimming pool, called the Moskva Pool.

In the 90th the idea of restoring the old cathedral slowly grew in national consciousness. It took only five years of unbelievable efforts to revive it. Best artists applied all their skills and efforts to create a replica of the 19th century Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. On the Christmas day of the year 2000 the cathedral was consecrated. Nowadays the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia conduct the services here on major religious holidays.

Being the votive church Christ the Saviour Cathedral became the cathedral of redemption for the sins of the previous century.