Czar Alexander II (ruled1855-81) was a great Russian royal, one of his successes was emancipating serfs in 1861, ending the obscene slavery of Russian peasantry. This was before the US finally ended its obscene slavery in 1865.
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Alexander II was writing a national constitution, and just before he announced his reforms, young revolutionaries who opposed the changes threw a bomb at his royal carriage, Mar 1881. His successor, son Czar Alexander III (ruled1881–94), chose instead to pursue more severe policies. Still, Alexander III planned to immediately erect a church on the site of the assassination by bomb, in his father's memory: Church of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, St Petersburg.
This Russian Byzantine Revival style church was to be very different architecturally from St Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture was mainly Baroque & Neo-classical, but this church referred back to Russian Byzantine architecture in the spirit of traditional nationalism.
Beginning in 1883, and locally referred to as the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood, architects were asked to plan the building in traditional Russian style. After Alexander had rejected several architects' designs, the job was eventually given to Alfred Parland.
Finished by 1907, the building’s 16th and C17th Russian taste was largely funded by the Imperial family and rich donors. It resembled the C17th Volga-city of Yaroslavl churches and had a similar façade to Moscow’s famous St Basil's Cathedral and Kiev’s Vladimir Cathedral. Its special multicoloured exterior made the church differ from the city’s strict architectural proportions and colour mixes, sharply contrasting to nearby Baroque, Classical and Modernist architecture.
An elaborate shrine was built on the spot where Alexander II lay, still a special place within the church's interior, with columns of grey violet jasper as the shrine’s base. Rising up the shrine, small rectangular columns united the carved stone awning and the decorated mosaic icons with images of the Romanovs’ patron saints. The columns were supported by a frieze, cornice and a stone-carved pediment with vases of jasper to the corners.
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Restoration
After WW2 the church was used by the Small Opera Theatre warehouse. The valuable shrine was very largely destroyed. 4 jasper columns with mosaic mountings in them, and a part of the balustrade were all that remained. The Church in St Petersburg looks amazing from the outside but it’s even more impressive inside. Its interior walls are covered with 7 sq km of mosaic! These mosaics covers the cathedral’s interior, created by the workshop of Vladimir Frolov. The artwork depicts religious narratives and figures as well as natural motifs, the first time mosaics provided the primary décoration of a Russian church. Designed to be viewed from a distance and using an incredibly rich array of shades, some of the mosaics are very realistic, capturing light, colour & emotion of the depicted scenes.
Management of the church was handed to St Isaac's Cathedral so it could be used as a museum of mosaics. If fact 80% of the church's restoration in July 1970 was funded by profits from St Isaac's. The decades of deterioration and then restoration culminated in an episodic use of the church in Aug 1997, when thousands of visitors gathered around. The projected cost had been c3.6 mill rubles, but ended up costing 4.6 mill rubles, due to the mosaics’ overrun. The mosaics linked Alexander II's murder with the crucifixion.
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It took c24 years to construct a majestic structure like this Church and, after early Soviet vandalism, another 27 years to restore. Reconstruction ended in 1991, just as the Communist regime ended.
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This Russian Byzantine Revival style church was to be very different architecturally from St Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture was mainly Baroque & Neo-classical, but this church referred back to Russian Byzantine architecture in the spirit of traditional nationalism.
Beginning in 1883, and locally referred to as the Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood, architects were asked to plan the building in traditional Russian style. After Alexander had rejected several architects' designs, the job was eventually given to Alfred Parland.
Finished by 1907, the building’s 16th and C17th Russian taste was largely funded by the Imperial family and rich donors. It resembled the C17th Volga-city of Yaroslavl churches and had a similar façade to Moscow’s famous St Basil's Cathedral and Kiev’s Vladimir Cathedral. Its special multicoloured exterior made the church differ from the city’s strict architectural proportions and colour mixes, sharply contrasting to nearby Baroque, Classical and Modernist architecture.
An elaborate shrine was built on the spot where Alexander II lay, still a special place within the church's interior, with columns of grey violet jasper as the shrine’s base. Rising up the shrine, small rectangular columns united the carved stone awning and the decorated mosaic icons with images of the Romanovs’ patron saints. The columns were supported by a frieze, cornice and a stone-carved pediment with vases of jasper to the corners.
Intricate mosaics of biblical scenes or figures
with fine patterned borders around each picture.
stone carving art were represented by the iconostasis
St Petersburg Guide
The highlight of the interior and exterior of the Cathedral were its mosaic decorations designed and created by prominent Russian artists then: Mikhail Vrubel, (d1910) Viktor Vasnetsov (d1926) and Mikhail Nesterov (d1942). The huge area made it one of the largest mosaic collections in Europe, emphasising the church’s very obviously Russian aspect. The church has an outstanding and varied collection of mosaic icons. Several icons were completed in the traditions of academic painting, modernist style and Byzantine icon painting. The large icon of the medieval St Alexander Nevsky was created to a design by Nesterov. The icons of the main iconostasis Mother of God with Child and The Saviour were painted to designs by Vasnetsov. The mosaic panel depicted Christ, blessing with his right hand and holding the gospels in his left. It was on the platform of the central cupola, painted to a design by N Kharlamov. Parland completed the framed icon mosaic ornaments.
The Cathedral was decorated with Italian limestone and semi-precious stones eg jasper, mountain crystal and topaz. The exterior displayed 20 granite plates which told the most important events of Alexander II's reign.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 broke out only 10 years after the completion of the Church on Spilled Blood when the Cathedral was looted, lost its funding, was plundered for its valuables and its staff was arrested. In Oct 1930 the Central Executive Committee ordered the church’s closure and it was left to rot. Incredibly the church was declared to be of no historical or architectural value so its demolition was planned. This was interrupted only when the thugs were conscripted, given the Nazi invasion of Russia in mid 1941. 1944's catastrophic Siege of Leningrad damage is still seen on the church's walls.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 broke out only 10 years after the completion of the Church on Spilled Blood when the Cathedral was looted, lost its funding, was plundered for its valuables and its staff was arrested. In Oct 1930 the Central Executive Committee ordered the church’s closure and it was left to rot. Incredibly the church was declared to be of no historical or architectural value so its demolition was planned. This was interrupted only when the thugs were conscripted, given the Nazi invasion of Russia in mid 1941. 1944's catastrophic Siege of Leningrad damage is still seen on the church's walls.
Restoration
After WW2 the church was used by the Small Opera Theatre warehouse. The valuable shrine was very largely destroyed. 4 jasper columns with mosaic mountings in them, and a part of the balustrade were all that remained. The Church in St Petersburg looks amazing from the outside but it’s even more impressive inside. Its interior walls are covered with 7 sq km of mosaic! These mosaics covers the cathedral’s interior, created by the workshop of Vladimir Frolov. The artwork depicts religious narratives and figures as well as natural motifs, the first time mosaics provided the primary décoration of a Russian church. Designed to be viewed from a distance and using an incredibly rich array of shades, some of the mosaics are very realistic, capturing light, colour & emotion of the depicted scenes.
Management of the church was handed to St Isaac's Cathedral so it could be used as a museum of mosaics. If fact 80% of the church's restoration in July 1970 was funded by profits from St Isaac's. The decades of deterioration and then restoration culminated in an episodic use of the church in Aug 1997, when thousands of visitors gathered around. The projected cost had been c3.6 mill rubles, but ended up costing 4.6 mill rubles, due to the mosaics’ overrun. The mosaics linked Alexander II's murder with the crucifixion.
Onion domes
People admire the 5 onion domes, vibrantly coloured and enamel covered. They were popularly believed to symbolise burning candles, often appearing in 3s, representing the Holy Trinity. Or 5 representing Jesus Christ and the Four Evangelists. A dome standing alone stood for Jesus.
It took c24 years to construct a majestic structure like this Church and, after early Soviet vandalism, another 27 years to restore. Reconstruction ended in 1991, just as the Communist regime ended.
Grand Choral Synagogue, St Petersburg
built in Moorish style in 1880-88 by
architects Shaposhnikov, Bakhman, Shreter