Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Moscow)

Ulitsa Volkhonka 15

Subway: Kropotkinskaya

 

 

Description of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

Dvorets SovetovConstruction of Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow began in 1839 and was finished in the mid 80's of the 19th century. Unlike many other churches of the time it was build on private donations of private citizens who wanted to commemorate the victory over Napoleon in 1812- 1814 war. At 103 m high Cathedral of Christ the Sabior is the largest Russian Orthodox church that is able to accept 10,000 people during its service. In order to construct such monument Czar Nicholas I removed pre- existing Women's Alekseevky Monastery and cleared the area. According to a legend the head of a monastery protested the decision, tried to chain herself to the abbey's gates and promised that this place would be empty. True or not, but the Church was blown up by the Soviets in 1931 in their struggle to create a new human, by destroying the old. A massive Dvorets Sovetov was intended to build on its place. Thanks to World War II the plans were scraped and only base for the huge building was completed. After the war it was turned into a large open air pool. Its sad fame came from numerous deaths, many of whom were children. Those who did survive claimed that a tall bearded men with long hair tried to drown them. Since this pool was intended for the Soviet elites. words of survivors were not ignored and security guards received an order to look for the men that fit the description. No one was ever caught. After fall of USSR an exact copy of the old Cathedral was constructed starting at 1994 and officially blessed in 2000.

 

Intended design of Dvorets Sovetov (Palace of the Soviets) that the Soviets wanted to build for their assembly. Huge statue of Lenin that stood on top would contain the Main Hall in its head and the statue itself would rotate pointing its hand at the Sun. Crazy unrealistic project was never completed.

 

 

History Of The Cathedral Of Christ The Saviour
The temple on Volhonka
No new competition was held, and in 1831 Nicholas I appointed Konstantin Ton as the architect, who worked in the Russian-Byzantine style close to the Emperor. According to researcher E. N. Maleeva, the implementation of the idea of a memorial temple, originally conceived by Alexander I, meant a dynastic succession for the new Emperor.

The Emperor also chose a new location on Volkhonka, which at that time was called Chertolye, the buildings there were bought up and demolished, including the Alekseevsky convent — a monument of the XVII century, later transferred to Krasnoe Selo. There is a legend among the people that the abbess, dissatisfied with the demolition of historical buildings and the transfer of the Alekseevskaya monastery, cursed the builders and predicted: "This place will be empty."

The plan for the new Church was approved and approved on April 10, 1832, and soon a new "Commission was appointed to build a Church in the name of Christ the Saviour in Moscow" under the chairmanship of the Moscow Governor-General, Prince Dmitry Golitsyn. Unlike the first, the second temple was built almost entirely at the state expense.

Construction of the temple
In the summer of 1837, laying and strengthening the Foundation of the future Church at the chosen location began. The groundbreaking ceremony took place two years later, on September 10, 1839. This event was attended by Emperor Nicholas I, Metropolitan Filaret, Grand Dukes Alexander Nikolaevich and Mikhail Pavlovich. A cross-shaped gilded plaque with the names of the Chairman and members of the construction Commission and the architect was installed on the Foundation stone specially brought from Vorobyovy Gory. The tablet also bore the following inscription:
In the summer of 1839, September 10 days, by order of the most Pious Autocratic Great Sovereign, Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich, the execution of the sacred vow made in Bose by the late Emperor Alexander I was begun, and by the August hand of Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich, because it was impossible to erect the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, according to the first assumption, on the Sparrow hills, the Foundation stone was laid on this place for the construction of this Temple.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, active construction began, which eventually lasted for almost 44 years. By 1841, the walls had reached the level of the plinth, and eight years later the vault of the great dome was completed. The external scaffolding was removed from the future Church in 1860, but the decoration and decoration, as well as the construction of the embankment and square, continued for another 20 years. In the period from 1837 to 1862, the construction costs came from the Commission for the construction of the temple, but in 1862, the Highest Imperial decree established an annual allocation of about 300 rubles in silver. The construction of the temple was supervised by Tong's student, architect Joseph Kaminsky. Vasily Surikov, Ivan Kramskoy, Vasily Vereshchagin, Genrikh Semiradsky, Alexey Korzukhin, Fyodor Bruni and other masters of the Imperial Academy of arts worked on the painting of the Church. High-relief statues of saints were made by sculptors Anton Ivanov, Nikolai Romazanov and Alexander Loganovsky. Architect Viktor Kossov also participated in the interior design of the Church.

In 1880, the building was given the official name-Cathedral in the name of Christ the Saviour Cathedral, approved by the clergy and clergy. By decree of may 25, 1883, the Cathedral was accepted "at the expense of the Treasury" with an annual estimate of 66,850 rubles for "the state of expenses for the maintenance of the Moscow Cathedral in the name of Christ the Saviour". After Ton's death in 1881, the construction was headed by his student, academician Alexander Rezanov. At the design stage in the 1830s and 1840s, Rezanov participated in the works as an artist. In the same year, work was completed on the embankment, the area around the temple, and outdoor lights were installed.

To transport blocks of granite and marble from the Northern provinces of European Russia, the Catherine canal was dug in the North-Western part of Moscow province. An artificial canal connected the Moscow river with the Volga via the Istra, Sestru and Dubna rivers.
 
On may 26 (June 7), 1883, the Cathedral was solemnly consecrated by Metropolitan Ioannikiy (Rudnev) of Moscow with a host of clergy and in the presence of Emperor Alexander III, who had recently been crowned in the Moscow Kremlin. The ceremony was also attended by Empress Maria Feodorovna, the heir and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna. The event was accompanied by a procession from the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour to the assumption Cathedral and back, the bell ringing of all Moscow churches, and a festive salute. After the consecration, the first Liturgy was celebrated in the Church. The 103.5-meter-high Church of Christ the Saviour is the tallest building in Moscow and the largest Church in the country.

 

Soon after the consecration of the Church, a state award was established — the medal "in memory of the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour", which was awarded to those who participated in the design and construction. In total, the construction of the Cathedral cost the Treasury about 15 million rubles, while the money for the construction of the temple was included in the total budget of state expenditures for the Department of Railways and public buildings. Only for the gilding of domes and roofs accepted a donation from the Moscow merchants — more than 20 pounds of gold.

The construction of the temple was critically perceived by many contemporaries. So, the artist Vasily Vereshchagin believed that the project of the Cathedral made by "a rather incompetent architect Tone"is a direct reproduction of the famous Taj Mahal in the city of Agra." Other authors, on the contrary, note that the Moscow temple reflected complex processes in both Russian and European architecture of the XIX century, when the "international" classicism was replaced by the period of historicism (eclecticism) and attempts to rethink and revive their national architecture in different countries began. This creative search was a method of "trial and error". Among the buildings that are close in time and spirit in Europe is the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris.