#7 Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, RUSSIA

This marvelous Russian-style church was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in March 1881. After assuming power in 1855 in the wake of Russia’s disastrous defeat in the Crimean war against Britain, France and Turkey, Alexander II initiated a number of reforms. In 1861 he freed the Russian serfs (peasants, who were almost enslaved to their owners) from their ties to their masters and undertook a rigorous program of military, judicial and urban reforms, never before attempted in Russia. However, during the second half of his reign Alexander II grew wary of the dangers of his system of reforms, having only barely survived a series of attempts on his life, including an explosion in the Winter Palace and the derailment of a train. Alexander II was finally assassinated in 1881 by a group of revolutionaries, who threw a bomb at his royal carriage.

The decision was taken to build a church on the spot where the Emperor was mortally wounded. The church was built between 1883 and 1907 and was officially called the Resurrection of Christ Church (a.k.a. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood ). The construction of the church was almost entirely funded by the Imperial family and thousands of private donators. Both the interior and exterior of the church is decorated with incredibly detailed mosaics, designed and created by the most prominent Russian artists of the day (V.M. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov and M.A. Vrubel). Interestingly, despite the church’s very obviously Russian aspect, its principle architect, A. Parland, was not even Russian by birth.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is one of St Petersburg’s most impressive churches. With multicolored onion domes reminiscent of St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is a breathtaking sight both outside and within its ornately decorated walls.

Whilst this church is also known as the Church on Spilt Blood, its official name is the Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact the construction of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood originally began in 1883 by Emperor Alexander III to commemorate his father, Alexander II. Alexander II was actually assassinated on the site where the church was built in 1881, thus lending the Russian Orthodox cathedral its alternative name referring to spilled blood.

Completed in 1907 during the reign of Nicholas II, The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood is an incredible mixture of colours and design. Unlike most of the buildings in St Petersburg, it is not built in a Baroque or neoclassical style, but rather a more medieval Russian one. Inside, the Church Of The Saviour On Spilled Blood is densely adorned with 7000 square metres of vivid mosaics created by world famous Russian artists such as Mikhail Vrubel and Viktor Vasnetsov.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood has had a varied history, from its original consecration and veneration to being looted and damaged in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution and being used as a storage facility for the deceased during the Second World War and as a potato storage facility afterwards. It was only in the 1970s that the church was reopened and in 1997, after 27 years of renovation, that it was returned to its former glory.

 

It is long since been tradition in Russian architecture to erect religious buildings in honour of historic events. The Church in the Name of the Resurrection of Christ on the Site of the Mortal Wounding of His Honoured Majesty Alexander II, so the church’s canonical title reads, stands on the exact spot where the emperor was fatally injured on 1 March 1881 by a bomb thrown by the radical, Ignaty Grinevitsky. It is more commonly known as the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood. It would be more accurate, however, to call it the Church of the Resurrection on the Blood, since it was consecrated in the name of the Resurrection of Christ rather than in the name of Christ the Saviour. This striking edifice is one of the few remaining examples of the late 19th – early 20th century religious architecture in Russia and today represents a commemorative monument of both historic and artistic value. Built in 1883-1907 by the architect Parland, this church was designed in the spirit of 16th-17th century Russian architecture and resembles St.Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square in Moscow. Most of the money for the church was donated by the royal family and thousands of private investors.

The Church of the Resurrection of Christ has a single altar and three apses. The square body of the church is crowned with five cupolas: the central one sits atop a pointed roof and is surrounded by four onion-shaped domes. On the west side, a two-storey column-like bell tower adjoins the main body of the building. The church stands at a height of 81 metres and has a total area of 1,642.35 square metres. The Church on the Spilled Blood owes its architectural uniqueness and unusual structural design to the criteria that were laid down with regard to its creation.

The interior of the church is stunning for its profusion of Italian marble and rich assortment of Russian semiprecious stones as well as its textures and shades, not to mention a riot of mosaics, bronze and silver. The stone ornaments were created by master craftsmen from the Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Kolyvan lapidary workshops.

The magnificent marble tiles on the floor of the church – the work of Italian masters – cover an area of 608 square metres. The domes of the church are covered with gilded or enameled sheets of brass. The decorative enamel covers an area of 1,000 square metres – an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of Russian architecture.

After the October Revolution of 1917 the church met the sad fate of most churches in the country. "The Savior" was closed for services in the late 1920s, then briefly used for an exhibition of revolutionary propaganda and soon started to fall into decay, being deprived of adequate maintenance. Several times it was suggested that the church be torn down, for it stood as an "inappropriate" symbol of Christianity amidst the largely atheistic country. It is by a true miracle that the church was saved. Since 1970 the church has been managed by the staff of the St.Isaac's Cathedral. A long careful restoration began, which lasted for over 25 years.

Now with scaffolding already removed, the bell-tower dome gilded, and the interiors carefully restored, the church opened its doors to visitors. The official opening took place in August, 1997 and you can now see this jewel in the crown of St.Petersburg in its stunning beauty.