The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

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The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is the building is the largest monument of Russian mosaic art. It stands on the shores of the Neva River on the site where on March 1, 1881 Tsar-Liberator Alexander II was mortally wounded by Nikolai Rysakov, a young member of the Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") movement. Upon Tsar’s death, Russia suffered a devastating blow to the rapid advancing economical and social foundations and sent Russia back to the days of blood and Dark Age. Russian people not only lost their beloved Tsar but lost their chances of having constitutional monarchy enforced and followed by all of Russia. For the first time in a long time Russia was relatively living in peaceful world and had reforms that were for the common people. Thirty years before the assassination, Alexander II drafted and successfully executed his reform plans in every aspect of Russian Empire: self governing power was given to serfs, the cities became more independent, education system and access to education had been eased and improved and major overhaul of outdate military forces had been successfully executed. Russia was finally on her right path. After the assassination, Alexander III was crowned as Tsar Alexander III. One of the first projects Alexander III began his work on was Church of the Savior. New Tsar set the condition that the Cathedral of the Resurrection (the official name of the temple) was to be built on the model of the Old Russian style churches on the exact spot where his father was assassinated. Money for such grand project was collected across Russia for almost two years. It costs staggering 4.5 million rubles and took 24 years to construct. The best of the best were commissioned to erect Church of the Savior. The con...

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...petersburg.com, the Church was facing a demolition. During World War II, St. Petersburg then Leningrad was under the siege for just over three years and was heavily damaged by the bombardment of Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe. The damage from World War II can still be seen on the Church’s walls. After the war, the Small Opera House used the church as a warehouse. The website states “The valuable shrine was almost completely destroyed. Four jasper columns with mosaic mountings in them, and a part of the balustrade were all that remained.” In 1970s, the restoration of The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood had started. Volunteers from across Russia just like the funds were collected from across Russia to build and rebuild this place flocked to St. Petersburg to restore the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood to its former glory. It was not fully completed until 1997.

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