CATHEDRAL
ON THE SPILLED BLOOD
St.
Petersburg, Russia
The strictest of titles for this
landmark of St.
Petersburg
is Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ – but it is rarely, if
ever, called
that. The most favoured name is “Church on the Spilled
Blood”, but it is also
called Church of the Resurrection, Church of our Saviour on the Spilled
Blood,
Cathedral of the Ascension, Cathedral of the Assumption, Cathedral of
the
Redeemer and numerous other mixes of those names!
Although in
some cases a lack of
clarity of name might be an
annoyance when confronted by this most amazing structure you think, I
don’t
care what it’s called, this is something wondrous. And so it is.
The irony is
that this building only
served as a church for
about a decade!
We have to
begin with a little Russian
history. Emperor
Alexander II – known as ‘the Liberator’ - was
assassinated on this spot in 1881
(after about six other attempts on his life) when a bomb thrown by a
Bolshevik
exploded as he stepped from his carriage. The Emperor’s legs were
blown away
almost entirely and he died very soon afterwards. A shrine was
immediately set
up on the site of the attack whilst plans were made for a more
permanent
memorial.
Plans were
drawn up which involved
narrowing the canal to
allow for the spot of the assassination to be inside the church and
construction began in 1883 under Alexander III (the late
Emperor’s son). Work
progressed quickly and was completed under Nicholas II in 1907.
Inside the
church is a shrine with part
of the pavement,
including blood stains, where Alexander died.
Unlike most of
the Baroque and
Neoclassical architecture of
St. Petersburg, the Church on the Spilled Blood is in a style meant to
represent medieval Russian architecture, the style which is exemplified
by St.
Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.
The architect
of the exterior was
Alfred Alexandrovich
Parland, a part German Lutheran whilst the interior features work from
many
prominent Russian artists of the time; Vasnetsov, Nesterov and Vrubel
amongst
them. Between them the decorators and artists of the church covered an
incredible 7,500 square metres of surface wirh mosaics. At the time
this was
more than any other church – only recently being surpassed by the
Cathedral of
St. Louis, USA.
It is,
perhaps, no shock then that the
Church went over
budget by around a million rubles. Every single piece of wall and
ceiling space
inside the church is covered with mosaics. This is not hyperbole or
exaggeration, but the absolute truth. The end result is dizzyingly
awe-inspiring.
The crowning
irony is that just ten
short years after
completion the Russian Revolution arrived in St. Petersburg and the
Church
ceased to be a Church. The interior was ransacked and looted and by
1930 it was
desolate and so the Soviet Government decided to close it and began
looking for
an excuse to demolish it. Thankfully, someone pointed out that such a
large
space was at a premium in the crowded city and so the Church was kept
for use
as storage. It was briefly a Museum to those who assassinated Alexander
II
(another irony) and during World War II was used as a morgue during the
Siege
of Leningrad.
Finally, after
the War, it became a
warehouse for vegetables
and gained yet another name – The Church of our Saviour on the
Potatoes.
All these
indignities finally began to
come to an end in
1970 when management of the Church passed to the Museum of St. Isaac’s
Cathedral. Restoration began and in August 1997 – 90 years
after it was first
completed and 27 years after restoration started – the Church
finally reopened.
However, even today, the Church is not really a church, but a Museum,
in over a
hundred years of existence the Church was only a church for around ten.
Today we have
the most amazing place to
visit and an
absolute must on any tourist itinerary of St. Petersburg. It will be
crowded
both inside and out – but if you leave the City without visiting
then you
haven’t been to the City at all.
Photo
- Andrew J. Müller
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©
Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J.
Müller
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. and Jacqui Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2018
