Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

The temple was built from 1883 till 1907 in the place of the tragic events that happened on the 1st of March 1881 – lethally wounding Emperor Alexander II who was heading to the place of the parade in the Field of Mars that moment. His son Alexander III ordered to build there a church for regular services for the repose of the killed father. That is why the name of the Church on Spilled Blood stuck to the temple, although it is officially called the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

The money was donated to the construction of the temple not only by Russians but also by the habitants of Slavic countries. On the walls of the bell tower there are more than a hundred of mosaic coats of arms of the cities, towns, governorates and uyezds who funded the building of the church. There is also the coat of arms of House of Romanov.

The cross of the bell tower is topped with a gold-plated kingly crown in recognition that the biggest contribution to the creation of the church was made by the august family. 4,6 millions of rubles were invested into the construction in total.

Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg's other structures. The Church contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world. The walls and ceilings inside the Church are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics — the main pictures being biblical scenes or figures — but with very fine patterned borders setting off each picture. This mosaic ensemble was worked at by artists V.M. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov and  A.P. Ryabushkin.

For decoration of the heads there were used copper pieces covered with freeze-proof colored enamel (having the area of 1000 square meters). The height of the highest dome is 81 meter. All along the perimeter of the temple building there are set 20 granite plaques with gilded writings describing Alexander II’s deeds. From the side of the Mikhailovsky Garden the temple is surrounded with a cast-iron fence having a with floral made to a sketch by Parland.

After the revolution the Church on Spilled Blood was closed and not restored for a long time. It was even heard to be going to get built-down. In 1970 it was taken under the patronage of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral which invested 80% of money into its restoration. In 1997 the Church on the Spilled Blood threw open its doors for visitors as a museum housing a large collection of mosaic icons (having the area of more than 7 thousand square meters).