Kanala Griboedova Naberezhnaya 2a
Tel. 315- 1636
Closed: Wed
Metro: Nevsky Prospekt
The Church of the Resurrection of Christ on Blood (Church of the
Savior on Blood) is an Orthodox church-monument in St. Petersburg, built
on the site where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded as a result
of an assassination attempt on March 1, 1881 (the expression on the
blood indicates the blood of the king). The temple was built as a
monument to the tsar with funds collected from all over Russia.
Located in the historical center of St. Petersburg on the banks of the
Griboyedov Canal, next to the Mikhailovsky Garden and Konyushennaya
Square. The height of the nine-domed temple is 81 m, the capacity is up
to 1600 people. It is a monument of Russian architecture.
The
temple was erected by decree of Emperor Alexander III in 1883-1907
according to a joint project of the architect Alfred Parland and
Archimandrite Ignatius (Malyshev). Made in the Russian style, somewhat
reminiscent of the Moscow Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat.
Construction lasted 24 years. On August 6 (19), 1907, the cathedral was
consecrated in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. It has the status of
a museum (museum complex "State Museum-Monument" St. Isaac's Cathedral
"").
Already on March 2, at an emergency meeting, the City Duma asked
Emperor Alexander III, who had ascended the throne, "to allow the city
public administration to erect ... a chapel or a monument at the expense
of the city." He replied: "It would be desirable to have a church ...
and not a chapel." However, it was still decided to build a temporary
chapel.
The architect Leonty Benois was entrusted to develop the
project. The work was carried out quickly, so on April 17, 1881, the
chapel was consecrated, and commemorative requiems began to be held in
it. It cost the Duma practically nothing: the merchant of the first
guild Gromov built the chapel with his own money, the merchant Militin
paid for the construction work, he also became the headman. This chapel
remained on the embankment until the beginning of the construction of
the temple - until the spring of 1883, after which it was moved to
Konyushennaya Square, where it stood for another nine years and was
finally dismantled.
Immediately after the assassination, a commission was created to
perpetuate the memory of Alexander II, and a competition was announced
for the best design of the temple. By the due date, by noon on December
31, 1881, 26 anonymous designs were submitted. The competition attracted
many famous architects of that time, among them were: Jerome Kitner,
Ivan Bogomolov, Viktor Schroeter, Andrey Gun, Leonty Benois and others.
The architects had a vast area on both sides of the Catherine Canal,
including part of the Mikhailovsky Garden, donated by Grand Duchess
Ekaterina Mikhailovna. The commission selected 8 best projects, and the
winner was the work in the Russian-Byzantine style called "To the Father
of the Fatherland" by Anthony Tomishko. The second prize was awarded to
the project "March 1, 1881" by academicians Hieronymus Kitner and Andrey
Gun, the third prize was awarded to the idea of the architect Leonty
Benois. On March 23, 1882, in Gatchina, the projects were demonstrated
to Emperor Alexander III, but none of them received approval. The
emperor decided that the temple being built should incorporate the
features of Russian architecture, which churches of the 17th centuries
possess, especially in Yaroslavl. In addition, it was necessary to
arrange the place of the death of the emperor inside the temple in the
form of a separate chapel.
A second competition soon followed.
Already on April 28, 1882, members of the commission began to select
from 31 best projects. This time, new big names appeared in the list of
nominees: Robert Goedicke, Albert Benois, Andrey Pavlinov, Roman Kuzmin,
Alexander Ober, Nikolay Sultanov, Alexander Rezanov and others. All
submitted projects were also rejected by Alexander III. After the
development of new projects, the project of the architect Alfred Parland
and the rector of the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage, Archimandrite Ignatius
(Malyshev), was chosen, who subsequently withdrew from the construction.
This project was approved by the emperor on June 29, 1883, with the
condition of its subsequent refinement under the supervision of
Professor David Grimm, the project was finally approved only on May 1,
1887. The following took part in the creation of the temple: assistants
to Professor Parland, architect Victor Fidelli and D. A. Orekhov; artist
Nikolai Bodarevsky, mosaicist Vladimir Frolov, bronze master Fedorov and
others.
Temple construction
The solemn laying of the temple
took place on October 18, 1883. The commission for the construction of
the temple, headed by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, included
architects David Grimm, Robert Goedicke, Ernest Gibert, Rudolf Bernhard,
who during the construction of the building gave advice and made
adjustments to the project; Ivan Shtrom took a great part in the
revision of the project, whose proposals significantly influenced the
composition of the completed church. Count Ivan Tatishchev was the
Vice-Chairman of the Commission and the Temple Warden.
The first
memorial service for Emperor Alexander II in the still unfinished church
was performed on March 1, 1906 (on the 25th anniversary of the
assassination attempt).
The mosaic work delayed the consecration
for ten years, which Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) performed on
August 6 (19), 1907 (the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, also
known as the Second Savior) in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and
other members of the Imperial House. In the morning, units of the guards
regiments and cavalry of the capital's garrison began to arrive at the
place of celebration to the sound of music. The emperor and his retinue
arrived on the Peterhof steamboat at the pier near the Marble Palace.
Nicholas II and his wife went ashore and in an open carriage drove to
the temple across the Field of Mars. On their way, they were accompanied
by the music of military bands and the peals of the greeting “Hurrah!”.
At the main entrance to the temple stood an elite platoon of palace
grenadiers with a golden banner of their company in gilded ammunition
and high bear hats. Upon the arrival of the king, the military bands
played the anthem "God save the Tsar." Nicholas II received a report
from the parade commander, Adjutant General Danilov, after which he
inspected the guards of honor. At the entrance to the cathedral, the
emperor was met by the chairman of the Construction Commission, Grand
Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Count Ivan Tatishchev, and architect Alfred
Parland. Inside the church, Metropolitan Anthony of St. Petersburg and
Ladoga was waiting for the sovereign. After that, the rite of
consecrating the temple with a prayer service began; after that it was
necessary to build and consecrate the main accessory of the cathedral -
the throne in the altar. After singing the spiritual hymn "Holy God" and
burning incense, the hierarch placed a paten with holy relics on his
head and led the procession around the church. The bells rang loudly, a
procession came out of the temple doors singing “Glory to Thee, Christ
God,” led by the choir of the court chapel. Under a remote lantern with
a burning candle, the personal valet of the late Emperor Alexander II
Kondratiev carried an altar cross. As the solemn procession progressed,
the bishop sprinkled the walls of the temple with holy water from a
silver vessel. The emperor and the empress marched behind the clergy.
The final stage of the consecration of the throne and the temple took
place inside in the altar; the sprinkling of the walls of the altar on
four sides with holy water completed the rite of consecration of the
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. After that, the service of the
first solemn liturgy began in the church. Then the metropolitan,
together with the members of the Holy Synod, went to the canopy, under
which was the place of the mortal wound of Alexander II, preserved
intact. Emperor Nicholas II and his relatives joined them. Metropolitan
Anthony celebrated litia with the proclamation of "Eternal Memory".
Returning to the altar, the Metropolitan finished the Liturgy. Nicholas
II and the entire august family took communion, kissing the holy cross
in the hands of the metropolitan, and left the consecrated church. To
the joyful exclamations of “Hurrah”, the royal cortege left the church
territory and returned to the boat at the pier near the Marble Palace.
Emperor Nicholas II awarded the Vice-Chairman of the Construction
Commission, Count Ivan Tatishchev, with a special medal; Acknowledgments
and awards were given to the architect Alfred Parland, the author of the
monument project, and members of the Commission, as well as the most
distinguished specialists. As a memento of participation in the
construction of the church, each worker was presented with a silver
pocket watch with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire on the lid. The
entire construction cost 4.6 million rubles.
On April 27 (May
10), 1908, Metropolitan Anthony consecrated the Iberian sacristy chapel,
which stood next to the temple, where icons were collected, brought in
memory of the death of Alexander II.
During the construction of
the temple, new construction technologies were applied, the temple
building was fully electrified. The temple was illuminated by 1689
electric lamps. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area around
the Church of the Savior on Blood was reconstructed.
The Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ was one of
two, along with St. Isaac's Cathedral, churches in St. Petersburg, which
were state-owned. The cathedral was not a parish; it was administered by
the Ministry of the Interior and was not designed for mass visits; entry
was by pass. Separate services dedicated to the memory of Alexander II
were performed in the cathedral and sermons were delivered daily.
On September 6 (19), 1907, by the resolution of Metropolitan Anthony
of St. Petersburg and Ladoga (No. 8039), Professor Pyotr Leporsky was
appointed rector of the cathedral, who was soon ordained a presbyter
(archpriest from October 14 (27), 1907).
Since 1909, the cleric,
and then (since August 9, 1923) the rector of the church was Archpriest
Professor Vasily Veryuzhsky, who at the end of 1927 became one of the
activists of the Josephite movement in Leningrad.
In 1917, the receipt of state funds for the
maintenance of the temple stopped, in connection with which Pyotr
Leporsky addressed the residents of Petrograd with the following words:
“The Church of the Resurrection on Blood has lost the funds necessary to
ensure worship in it. The clergy of the temple, built at the expense of
the general public, decided to address the owner of the temple, the
people, with an invitation to unite around the temple and, to the best
of their strength and zeal, share the care of maintaining a magnificent
service in it. Those who wish to enroll in the number of parishioners of
the temple are kind enough to contact the father rector, Archpriest P.
Leporsky (Nevsky, 163) or in the temple for candle revenue, and there
they will receive the necessary forms for applications.
At the
end of 1919, the department of justice of the Petrosoviet received an
order to form a “twenty”, that is, a parish, at the Church of the
Resurrection of Christ. In response, on December 2, 1919, Archpriest
Pyotr Leporsky wrote a statement in which he objected to such a decision
by the city authorities, "since the temple has never been a parish",
and, in addition, "is under the jurisdiction of the People's
Commissariat of Property." However, on December 13, 1919, the collegium
for the registration and protection of monuments of art and antiquity
and the property department gave permission to transfer the temple to
the "twenty", which was done on January 11, 1920.
From July 1922
until July 5, 1923, the temple belonged to the "Petrograd autocephaly"
under the control of Bishop Nikolai (Yarushevich) of Peterhof, after
which it was renovated until August 9 of the same year.
Since
August 1923, after the transition of the Kazan and St. Isaac's
Cathedrals under the jurisdiction of the Renovationists, the temple
became the cathedral of the "old church" ("Tikhonov") Petrograd diocese.
From the end of 1927 until its closure, the temple was the center of
Josephism in Leningrad, a right-wing movement in the Russian Church that
arose as an opposition to the Deputy Patriarchal Locum Tenens,
Metropolitan Sergius, after he issued a “Declaration” of unconditional
loyalty to “our Government” (the communist regime).
On October
30, 1930, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
decided to close the temple.
In November 1931, the Regional
Commission on Cult Issues issued a decision on the "expediency" of
dismantling the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, but the decision
on this issue was postponed indefinitely. In 1938, the issue was raised
again and was positively resolved, but with the beginning of the Great
Patriotic War, the leadership of the city faced completely different
tasks. During the years of the blockade, a morgue was placed in the
cathedral, and the dead Leningraders were brought here. After the war,
the temple rented the Maly Opera House and set up a scenery warehouse in
it.
In 1961, a German high-explosive shell was found in the
central dome of the temple. It probably broke through the vault of the
dome at the end and got stuck in the ceiling of the vault. Unnoticed by
anyone, the land mine lay in the rafters for 18 years and was
accidentally discovered by steeplejacks of research and production
restoration workshops. Upon examination, it turned out that it was a
240-mm high-explosive projectile weighing about 150 kg. Work on its
neutralization began under the guidance of the former pyrotechnician V.
I. Demidov on the morning of October 28, 1961, they were carried out by
six people: steeplejacks Yevgeny Kasyanov, Vyacheslav Korobkov, Vladimir
Mayorov, Alexander Matskevich, Vladimir Smirnov and former sapper
Valentin Nikolaev. It was a unique operation that required from its
participants not only skill, but also extraordinary self-control and
courage. With the help of a winch, the projectile was removed, taken out
of the city and destroyed in the Pulkovo Heights area.
In 1968,
the cathedral was taken under protection by the State Inspectorate for
the Protection of Monuments under the Main Architectural and Planning
Directorate, and on July 20, 1970, a decision was made to organize a
branch of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum in the building of the former
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. The transfer of the
temple-monument to the balance of the museum took place on April 12,
1971. Georgy Butikov, director of the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum,
played an important role in this event. By this time, the cathedral was
in disrepair and required urgent restoration.
In the 1970s,
engineering and general construction work was carried out, and a lot of
work was done to prepare for the restoration of the interior decoration.
The restoration of the temple itself began in the early 80s, the first
stage of which ended in 1997.
On August 19, 1997, exactly 90 years after its
consecration, the Savior on Spilled Blood memorial museum was opened to
visitors.
On May 23, 2004, Metropolitan Vladimir (Kotlyarov) of
St. Petersburg served the first liturgy after more than 70 years in the
cathedral.
On January 21, 2014, the parish of the Cathedral of
the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Spilled Blood) was registered.
In total, the Church of the Savior on Blood has 9
onion domes. The composition is based on a compact quadrangle, which
is crowned with five domes.
The central dome rises on an
octagonal tent and reaches a height of 81 meters. At the base of the
tent on its wall there are eight oblong windows with platbands in
the form of kokoshniks. At the top, the tent narrows; eight ledges
with windows are cut into it. The tent is completed by a lantern
crowned with an onion dome with a cross. The central bulbous dome is
covered with enamel in the form of three swirling bands: white,
green and blue.
Around the tent there are four onion domes,
forming a symmetrical shape of the composition: northwest,
northeast, southwest and southeast. All four domes are covered with
colored enamel. The northwest dome contains alternating vertical
blue and green lines. The northeastern dome is decorated with blue
and gold equilateral crosses. The southwestern dome consists of
blue, green and white squares that form oblique lines. The
southeastern dome is decorated in addition to white, blue and green
squares with gold rhombuses. These domes are located on low drums,
which are smaller in size than the domes themselves.
In the
western part of the cathedral, overlooking the Griboedov Canal,
there is a bell tower, completed with a large gilded onion dome,
which makes it look like the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Moscow
Kremlin. The belfry has eight arched openings separated by columns.
The remaining three gilded domes, smaller in size, are located
above the apses in the eastern part of the temple.
The architecture of the temple is an example of the
late stage of the evolution of the Russian style. The building is a
collective image of a Russian Orthodox church, based on the examples of
Moscow and Yaroslavl architecture of the 16th-17th centuries. The
architecture of the Moscow Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat had
a great influence on the appearance of the temple.
From the
outside, inscriptions were made on the temple, which emphasized the
achievements of Russia during the reign of Alexander II. On the western
facade under the main dome, mosaics with coats of arms of provinces,
regions and cities of the Russian Empire are laid out.
A variety
of finishing materials were used in the decor of the building - brick,
marble, granite, enamels, gilded copper and mosaics.
Inside the temple is a real museum of mosaics, the area of which is 7065 square meters. The mosaic was created in the workshop of Vladimir Frolov according to sketches by more than 30 artists, including Viktor Vasnetsov, Firs Zhuravlev, Mikhail Nesterov, Andrey Ryabushkin, Vasily Belyaev, Nikolai Kharlamov. The mosaic exposition of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the largest collections in Europe.
Bulat Okudzhava’s song “Farewell to the New Year Tree”
(1966) contains the words: “My spruce, spruce, like the Savior on
Spilled Blood, // Your silhouette is distant // As if a trace of
surprised love, // Flashed, unsatisfied.”
In the song “Sadness
has flown” by Alexander Rosenbaum, released on the disc in 1986, the
Savior on Spilled Blood is mentioned and the desire to see it renewed as
soon as possible: “I want to give the houses a look familiar from
childhood. // I dream of removing the scaffolding from the Church of the
Savior on Spilled Blood" (in another version - "I've been dreaming of
removing the scaffolding from the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
for twenty years").
In the song “In the city of three
revolutions” by the Chaif group from the album “It doesn’t matter”
(1990): “In the city of three revolutions, Aurora is again in place. //
It was probably repaired in the hope of a Russian chance. // Scaffolding
is being removed from the Savior and fences are being painted. // A
respected northern guest vomits while drunk.
The song "Ballad of
the Temple" by Yuri Morozov from the album "Troubled Days" in 1988 is
dedicated to the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.