The Cathedral of Christ the Savior

address : Volkhonka ulitsa 15-17

After Napoleon's army had been driven out of Russia in 1812 Emperor Alexander I issued a decree proclaiming "The Construction in Moscow of a Church in the Name of Christ the Savior in Gratitude to Divine Providence for Saving Russia from Her Enemies." The best architects of the time competed for the project. It was awarded to A. L. Vitberg, who beginning in 1817 supervised construction of the church in Sparrow Hills (Vorobyovy gory). In 1827, however, work was suspended and Vitberg discharged. In 1832 Emperor Nicholas I approved a project developed by court architect K. A. Ton. The cornerstone was laid in Chertolie in 1839. The tallest building in Moscow and the largest church in Russia, the cathedral was consecrated in 1883. The cathedral was in the shape of an equal-sided Greek cross. The central cupola was supported byfour huge pylons encasing stairways leadingto bell towers capped by smaller domes. The ogee gables that completed the composition of all the facades were essentially decorative, serving merely to cover the arms of the cross. The spatial composition was based on a cube with domes on its upper facet. Surrounding the interior of the church was a gallery whose massive columns were set into the walls, which allowed the main volume to be entirely open and uncluttered by supports and created a uniform continuous interior space soaring upward toward the central illuminated cupola. High reliefs by A.V. Loganovsky, R K. Klodt, and other sculptors adorned the exterior walls, while the interior was decorated by A. I. Rezanov and L.V. Dal. Many prominent painters worked on the murals. The iconostasis in the form of an octahedral chapel was made of white marble inset with marble of other colors and crowned with a gilded bronze tented roof. In 1917 the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church convened here to restore the Patriarchate abolished by Peter the Great. Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomenskoe. was elected Patriarch. In 1931 Stalin ordered the cathedral demolished. It was to be replaced by a grandiose Palace of Soviets, but the project was never realized, and in 1958-1960 the site was transformed into an outdoor public swimming pool. The cornerstone of the reconstructed cathedral was laid in January 1995. Architects M. M. Posokhin and A. M. Denisov and sculptors Yu. G. Orekhov and Z. K. Tsereteli reproduced Ton's design exactly. Because the site of the church had been lowered by the attempt to construct the Palace of Soviets, however, it was decided to add a broad socle to raise it to its previous level. On 19 August 2000 the fully rebuilt cathedral was officially consecrated. In 2005 a monument to Emperor Alexander III by sculptor A. I. Rukavishnikov was unveiled in the adjoining public garden.

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