Christ the Savior Cathedral and its original

The construction of the original Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow began in 1839 as a mark of religious gratitude for the 1812 victory over Napoleon.

The cathedral was to replace the St. Alexis Monastery, which had been moved to Krasnoye Selo. Reproduction of the painting “St. Alexis Monastery at the Prechistenka Gate” by an unknown painter.

The Christ the Savior Cathedral, rebuilt in the 1990s, is the main cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, and stands near the Kremlin on the left bank of the Moskva River, on a previously site called Chertolye. In the photo: View of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from the Kremlin, early 20th century.

The cathedral was created by the most talented artists of the period. The facade was decorated with sculptures made by Pyotr Klodt, Nikolai Ramazanov and Alexander Loganovsky. The rich interior decorations included paintings by members of the Russian Academy of Arts - Vasily Surikov, Timofei Neff, Nikolai Koshelev and Genrikh Semiradsky. Count Fyodor Tolstoy designed the four main and eight side bronze doors and decorated them with the images of saints.

The cathedral was consecrated in 1883 in the presence of Emperor Alexander III and his family. The emperor ruled Russia for 13 years and died on October 20, 1894. That year, the public was asked to contribute money for a monument to Alexander III in Moscow, and gave nearly 2.5 million rubles, an unprecedented sum for that period. The monument was unveiled next to the Christ the Savior Cathedral on May 30, 1912. In the photo: A View of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the monument to Emperor Alexander III, 1917.

The monument was torn down in 1918 by Bolsheviks, who planned to place a monument to the “Liberated Worker” on the base.

Bolsheviks started tearing down the Christ the Savior Cathedral on December 5, 1931. They planned to build in its place the Palace of Soviets, a skyscraper with a monument to Lenin at the top. But it was never built due to the outbreak of World War II.

For years after the destruction of the cathedral there was nothing but a huge pit in its place, until the Moscow Swimming Pool was built there in 1958.

The decision to rebuild the cathedral was taken in the early 1990s. Luckily, pieces of the old cathedral survived in the basement of the old building of Moscow State University. The reconstruction of exterior and interior decorations was based on photographs from the archives of the political police, the NKVD. Photographs and precise measurements had been taken every five meters outside and inside the cathedral. Muscovites also contributed photographs of the cathedral from their personal archives.

Pieces of high relief from the Christ the Savior Cathedral, destroyed in 1931, now at the Donskoi Monastery.

By 1999, the Cathedral was rebuilt as a relative likeness of its predecessor: a two-storey structure with the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior at the base.

1997: The consecration and mounting of the Big Bell in the belfry of the Christ the Savior Cathedral, which was still under construction. The ceremony was attended by Alexy II, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.

1997: The consecration and mounting of the Big Bell in the belfry of the Christ the Savior Cathedral, which was still under construction then.

The altar in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.

Frescos in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.

The cupola of the Christ the Savior Cathedral.

Preachers in the Christ the Savior Cathedral.