This amazing cathedral should be called, in my opinion, “the church of a thousand names” because there are so many different variations of its name. Wikipedia lists it as the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood; others call it Church on Spilt Blood. The above postcard, sent by Vera, names it Church on the Spilled Blood or Church of Resurrection. I will just use its official name: Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.
It was built by Alexander III as a memorial to his father Alexander II, whom was mortally wounded by an anarchist conspirator in the exact same place where the Cathedral was built. The blood referred to by some of its names is the tsar’s.
It was constructed between 1883 and 1907 in a more traditional medieval Russian architecture, despite St. Petersburg’s more Baroque and Neoclassical buildings. Although it was built as a church, the Cathedral never worked as a public place of worship. Nowadays, it is a Museum of Mosaic.
Source: Wikipedia.
What an otherwordly building.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely tragic that it should be a museum for mosaics and not a church.
James (in Ireland)
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ReplyDeleteThe cathedral is magnificent!! Like lots of monuments is Russia, give us the image of sumptuosity of the former Russian Empire!!
ReplyDeleteSaint Petersburg, a city that we have to visit!!
Francisco (in Lisboa, Portugal)