The Church of the Resurrection of our Savior (The Church on the Spilled Blood)

On March 1 st , 1881 Ignatiy Grinevitsky, a terrorist from the “Narodnaya Volia” organization, let off a bomb on the Ekaterinensky Channel and gravely wounded Tsar Alexander II. It was decided to construct a memorial temple on this place.

The temple with nine domes and one alter was founded in 1883, and the construction was completed in 1907. The project's authors were architect A. Parland and archimandrite Ignatiy, senior priest in Troitse-Sergieva Monastery. “True Russian motives” were in the base of the architectural idea, the architects sought to bring the church's project closer to the monuments of Moscow architecture, and, first of all, to the St. Basil Cathedrale. The decoration of the church was complicated and expensive. The facades were coated with tile and stone, domes – with gilded and enameled plates, the roofs of the marquees, porches, and schists – with slip multicoloured tile. One of the main peculiarities of the church are mosaics that decorate its facades and interiors. The total area of the mosaics is unbelievable – 7050 square meters.

After the revolution, in 1930, under the decree of Presidium of Central Committee the church was closed and handed over for “needs of culture and enlightenment”. In cathedral premises an exhibition, devoted to the terrorist organization “Narodnaya Volia” was opened. Later workshops, potato storage, sets warehouse were situated here. In 1940 one decided to destroy the temple. And only due to the beginning of the war the plan was not implemented. In 1956 the church was granted the status of architectural monument. In 1970 the restoration works began there and were completed only in 1998.