Cathedral Temple of Christ the Savior. Temple of Christ the Savior brief information
I have been photographing Moscow for a long time, but in the main Orthodox church country still did not photograph. In the mosque "" I shot, in the mosque "" in Astana I shot. Even in Karaganda, and then I shot in the mosque. But in the largest cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church - no. It was decided to correct this oversight, and thanks to the assistance of the Foundation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, I got access to such points where no photographer had yet climbed.
1. The history of the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior is extraordinary - tragic and solemn. The first Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built on the banks of the Moskva River at the end of the 19th century in memory of the victory of the Russian army in the war of 1812, designed by the architect Ton. The construction lasted almost 44 years: the temple was founded on September 10, 1839, and consecrated on May 26, 1883. However, after the consecration, the temple did not stand for long. On December 5, 1931, it was blown up by order of the Soviet government in order to build the Tower of Babel - the Palace of Soviets - in its place. The temple that we can see today was restored in the 1990s.
2. As conceived by Ton, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was to become a structure that combines both the architectural traditions of Byzantium and the features of Russian architecture.
3. The height of the temple with a dome and a cross is 103 meters, which is 150 centimeters higher than St. Isaac's Cathedral. The temple was built in the traditions of the Russian-Byzantine style, which was widely state support at the start of construction.
4. From four observation platforms located between the bell towers of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, at a height of 40 meters, a wonderful panorama of Moscow opens up, a view of the old city center, the Kremlin, the Moscow River and the Golden Mile. By the way, getting here is relatively easy. You can go up to the viewing points with a tour group. I will allow myself to post a few specific photos before going on a tour of the temple.
5. While visiting the viewing platforms, you can see the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, crosses on the belfries and bells close by. The weight of the largest bell is 30 tons.
6. Prechistensky Gate Square.
7. Patriarchal Bridge and Golden Island. The sun is shining here...
8. And then it's snowing.
9. Monument to Peter I.
10. Red October.
11. Kremlin in summer.
12. Kremlin in winter.
13. The structure of the modern complex of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior includes two temples and a stylobate part:
"Upper Church" - the actual Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It has three thrones - the main one in honor of the Nativity of Christ and two side ones in the choir stalls - in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker (southern) and the holy prince Alexander Nevsky (northern).
The “Lower Church” is the Church of the Transfiguration, built in memory of the female Alekseevsky Monastery located on this site.
The stylobate part houses technical and office premises, a hall church councils, Hall of the Supreme Church Council, Refectory Chambers. In the bypass gallery of the Church of the Transfiguration there is the Patriarchal Museum of Church Art, among the exhibits of which are monuments of church art of the 5th-20th centuries, donated to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
14. Special place Vasnetsov's triptych "The Virgin and Child", "The Almighty" and "The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles grand duchess Olga" (1899)
15. In the refectory chambers, which are designed for one and a half thousand seats, meals are held for participants in the Local and Bishops' Councils, various festive receptions of the clergy.
16. On ordinary days, various thematic exhibitions and various social events are held here.
17. The "Lower Church" has three altars: the main one - in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord and two small chapels - in honor of Alexy the Man of God and the Tikhvin Icon Mother of God.
18. The interior decoration of the Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is oriented towards ancient Russian traditions.
20. The "Upper Temple" is much larger and more spacious. In plan, the temple looks like an equilateral cross about 80 m wide, and can accommodate up to 10,000 people.
22. More than 400 artists took part in the reconstruction of the murals of the temple, and the total area of the murals was about 22,000 m 2. It's about the size of two football fields.
23. All work on the reconstruction of artistic decoration during the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was carried out by the Russian Academy of Arts.
26. View from the choirs. The shooting was carried out during the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy on the 1st week of Great Lent. The service was given special solemnity by the fact that it took place on the 40th anniversary of the hierarchal consecration of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
27. Hundreds of clergymen from all over Russia arrived in Moscow to celebrate the anniversary of their ordination.
40. The entire Complex of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is a unique engineering structure in its complexity. In terms of the quality of the installed engineering equipment, the Complex corresponds to the best world standards.
47. In the center of the frame is me shooting a panorama.
48. Panorama itself.
Happy Easter, dear friends!
I express my gratitude to the Foundation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for their assistance in organizing the shooting! Photo captions are from
On this day 130 years ago, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was consecrated by Emperor Alexander III, who had just ascended the throne. In honor of this anniversary, we decided to take a closer look at the history of the Temple.
And it all started December 25, 1812, when the last soldier of Napoleon's army was expelled from Russia, Emperor Alexander I, in honor of the victory of the Russian army and in gratitude to God, signed the Supreme Manifesto on the construction of a church in Moscow in the name of the Savior Christ and issued " The Highest Decree to the Holy Synod on the establishment of the feast of December 25, in remembrance of the deliverance of the Church and the Russian Power from the invasion of the Gauls and with them the twelve languages».
The idea of building a memorial church resurrected the ancient tradition of votive churches, built as a token of gratitude to God for the granted victory and in eternal remembrance of the dead.
Already in 1813, an official competition was announced for the project of a memorial temple, in which prominent architects of that time took part. By December 1815, about 20 projects had been submitted for the competition.
Most of the projects had a high degree of homogeneity. The thought and imagination of the architects of that time worked within the framework of strictly defined concepts, conditioned by the ideas of Empire architecture. Participants in the competition for the design of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior were mainly inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Pantheon.
The project, designed by Giacomo Quarenghi, is similar to the Pantheon, especially its main facade with an eight-columned Corinthian portico and a solemn staircase in front of it.
Voronikhin's project gravitates toward St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
Voronikhin also used forms associated with Gothic - lancet openings and decorative elements characteristic of the Western European Middle Ages.
But the Sovereign approved the project presented by the architect A.L. Witberg, who managed to put into classical forms the meaning that expressed the national idea, and also to interpret the event of national history, based on the system universal values Christianity.
Witberg's ideas about the temple come down to three main points: 1st, so that its colossality corresponds to the greatness of Russia; 2nd, so that, free from slavish imitation, he had something original in his character, a style of strict original architecture; 3rd, so that all parts of the temple are not only arbitrary forms of architectural need, not a dead mass of stones, but express the spiritual idea of a living temple - a person in body, soul and spirit».
Vitberg proposed to build a temple between the Smolensk and Kaluga roads, on the Sparrow Hills, which Alexander I poetically called the "crown of Moscow."
The reasons for choosing a place were the desire of the Emperor to build a temple outside the city, since in Moscow " there is not enough space required for an elegant building". This was consistent with a good geographical location (spread at the foot of the Sparrow Hills, the Maiden's Field would allow you to see the whole temple from afar), and the fact that the Sparrow Hills are located between the paths of the enemy, who entered Moscow along the Smolensk road and retreated along the Kaluga.
According to Witberg, the temple was to become triple, i.e. " the temple of the body, the temple of the soul and the temple of the spirit - but since a person, being threefold, is one, so the temple, with all threeness, must be one". Thus, the idea of a triple temple becomes central to Witberg's project.
He works, striving, that all the outer forms of the temple be the imprint of the inner idea". The idea of a tripartite temple and the fact that Witberg was able to put into classical forms the meaning that expressed the national idea, as well as interpret the event of national history, based on the system of universal values of Christianity, helps him win the competition.
Witberg designs the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in three parts and vertically. One above the other are located:
- an underground temple in the name of the Nativity of Christ, which has a parallelepiped in plan, resembling a coffin (panikhidas were supposed to be continuously performed here);
- cruciform ground - in the name of the Transfiguration of the Lord, symbolizing the mixture of light and darkness in the human soul, as well as the combination of good and evil in human life. The middle temple was supposed to be decorated with many statues;
- round top - in the name of the Resurrection of Christ.
The high bank of the Sparrow Hills is interpreted by the architect as the natural foot of a grandiose structure. underground temple it was supposed to be built in the thickness of the coastal slope, having decorated the passages in the form of solemn staircases framed by colonnades.
When summing up the results of the competition, the Sovereign said to Witberg with favor: “ I am extremely pleased with your project. You guessed my desire, satisfied my thoughts about this Temple. I wanted it not to be one heap of stones, like an ordinary building, but to be animated by some religious idea; but I did not expect to receive any satisfaction, did not expect anyone to be animated by her, and therefore concealed my desire. And so I considered up to 20 projects, among which there are very good ones, but all the things are the most ordinary. You made the stones speak».
The laying ceremony - exceptionally beautiful and solemn - took place October 12, 1817, five years after the performance of the French from Moscow, and was accompanied by an unprecedented spiritual upsurge.
A. Afanasiev - Historical image of the celebration that took place during the laying of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
« Mr. Academician Alexander Lavretevich Vitberg, the author of the plan and facade of this temple, presented the Sovereign Emperor with a gilded copper cruciform board, with a decent inscription, which His Imperial Majesty deigned to put in the deepening of the stone; for this, Mr. Architect filed on two silver, gilded dishes prepared for this - a marble stone, a silver gilded hammer, the same spatula and dissolved lime. After the position of the first stone, stones were served on silver dishes, a decent silver tool and lime of the entire Royal family and the Prussian Prince Wilhelm who was present at this celebration».
After the laying of the temple in 1817, work on the project was not completed, and the final version of 1825 is a square, single-domed temple with majestic twelve-column porticos under triangular pediments.
During construction, Vitberg had problems with the delivery of stone and soil, which led to delays in construction.
With the death of Alexander I, Vitberg lost his main patron. The new autocrat of Russia - Nicholas I - ordered to suspend all work. To clarify the issue of the possibility of implementing the Witberg project, Nicholas I May 4, 1826 creates a special "Artificial Committee".
As a result of the research and the drawings of the plan and sections of the Sparrow Hills made on their basis, Moscow experts came to a conclusion that everyone recognized: “ The construction of a great temple on the sloping Sparrow Hills belongs to the number of impossibilities, as is proved by the tests of the soil; but on top of them is a spacious platform on which you can build a huge building».
This sealed the fate of Witberg and his project. The construction, conceived on a grand scale, ended tragically for the architect. Vitberg was accused of embezzlement of state funds, a process began that ended in 1835 with a guilty verdict and exile of the architect to Vyatka.
In February 1830, a new competition was held, and it was proposed to mark the temple on the top of the Sparrow Hills or in another place.
Project A.S. Kutepova presents a five-domed cathedral-type church, created in the likeness of ancient Russian temples. The architect also designed the surroundings of the future temple, placing it in the center of a vast rectangular square, built up around the perimeter with St. Petersburg-style houses.
A.S. Kutepov - Project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
lava façade and adjacent square
at the top of Sparrow Hills, 1831
In the project of the architectural assistant E.G. Malyutin, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was proposed to be built in the very center of Moscow, in close proximity to the Kremlin, but on the opposite side of the Moscow River - on a huge square stretching from Vozdvizhenka to Znamenka and from Alexander Garden to the Arbat Gates.
The project attracted the attention of the original, rare in the architecture of classicism, four-leaf plan. One of the two versions of the project provided for a direct connection of the area of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the help of a bridge thrown over the Alexander Garden with the Kremlin.
Project A.I. Melnikov was typical of classicism - a five-domed majestic temple, round in plan, surrounded by a colonnade, with four 8-columned porticos.
A.I. Melnikov - Project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the upper platform of the Sparrow Hills, western facade, 1831
I.T. Tamansky proposed to place the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in close proximity to the Kremlin - on the opposite side of the Moskva River in Tsaritsyn Meadow.
The main axis of the ensemble, oriented to the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin, is emphasized by the pier located on the river bank. In front of the temple, Tamansky suggested erecting an equestrian monument to Emperor Alexander I, in the center of the roundness of each side of the oval - a triumphal gate, symbolizing "two extreme points of a great cause - the capture of Paris and Moscow, renewed in the glory and greatness of its Fatherland." Obelisks or pyramids, standing inside a colossal oval square, Tamansky proposed to decorate with bas-reliefs with inscriptions.
I.T. Tamansky - General plan and design of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the Tsaritsyn meadow, 1829
I.I. Charlemagne - Project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Sparrow Hills, 1831
April 10, 1832 Emperor Nicholas I approved the new design of the Temple, drawn up by the architect K.A. tone. Working on the project of the temple, Ton presented Nicholas I with a choice of three options for placing the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: behind the Educational House, where the Church of Nikita the Martyr on the Cross over the Moscow River (an option related to the proposed Beauvais), on Tverskaya Street on the site of the Strastnoy Monastery (today Pushkinskaya square; a variation of the option proposed by Shestakov) and at the Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge not far from the Kremlin, between the Moskva River and Volkhonka, on the site of the Alekseevsky Convent. The emperor personally chose the latter.
The fate of the Alekseevsky Monastery was not easy until these times. It was founded in 1358 and was the oldest maiden monastery. In the 16th century, after a terrible fire in 1547, Fyodor Ivanovich and Irina founded the Zachatievsky Monastery on the site of the burned-out monastery.
The restoration of the Alekseevsky monastery in the 17th century, already in a new place - in the White City, in Chertolye - was taken up by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who was named in honor of Alexy, the Man of God, did a lot for the monastery.
In the 19th century, after the Patriotic War, the Alekseevsky Monastery was restored, but, as mentioned above, its fate was decided by the project to build the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in its place. The monastery was transferred in 1837 to the place where the parish church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Krasnoye Selo stood.
N. Benois - General form earth excavation for the foundations of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the facade of the temple and the former Alekseevsky Monastery
The new cathedral, like the temple of Witberg, faced the Moscow River and stood on a bend in the high bank.
Taking into account that the symbolism of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior as a whole was focused on identifying the connection with the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, the magnificent view of the Kremlin from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the cathedrals, towers and the bell tower of Ivan the Great became a great advantage of the finally chosen place.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior took almost 44 years to build.
General plan of the construction site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior according to the project of K.A. tone. April 10, 1832
Plan of the area near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 1870s.
According to the general agreement, all the people chipped in for the construction. Everyone's contribution was initially limited to certain social limits, so that the poorest could contribute what they could, and the wealthy would not be tempted to show off their generosity.
Miscellaneous items related to the laying of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, September 10, 1839
In 1860, the outer scaffolding was dismantled, and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for the first time appeared before Muscovites in its grandeur.
In 1862, a bronze balustrade was installed on the roof, which was not in the original project. From the observation deck of the cathedral, an unforgettable view of low-rise Moscow opened up.
From 1878 to 1881, work was underway to decorate the terrace area around the Temple.
In the spring of 1880, a stretcher with an eighty-year old man was brought to the foot of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, sparkling with gold domes and crosses. He wanted to get up to climb the steps to the temple, but he did not muster up the strength. And so he lay with his eyes full of tears.
One can only guess about the feelings that the outstanding architect experienced at the sight of his main creation.
He died, not having lived quite a bit before the consecration of his offspring, until the day when, under the powerful vaults of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Eternal Memory was proclaimed to those who had accomplished a feat of arms in the name of the Fatherland, until the day when he, K.A. Tona, the name was gratefully pronounced ordinary people kneeling in prayer before the altar...
By 1881, work was completed on the construction of the embankment and the square in front of the Temple, and thatoutside lights are also installed. By this time, work on the interior painting of the Temple had come to an end.
Opposite the main entrance, in the eastern branch of the cross, an iconostasis, unique in composition, is being designed in the form of a white marble octagonal chapel topped with a bronze tent. The peculiarity of the iconostasis, which had no analogues and predecessors in ancient Russian and post-Petrine architecture and remained the only one of its kind, was that it had the appearance of a tented temple, the type of which was common in Russia in the 16th - first half of the 17th centuries.
Over the creation of the Temple according to the project of K.A. Ton worked the best architects, builders and artists of that time. The unique painting was created by the artists of the Russian Academy of Arts V. Surikov, Baron T. Neff, N. Koshelev, G. Semiradsky, I. Kramskoy, V.P. Vereshchagin, P. Pleshanov, V. Markov. The authors of the facade sculptures were Baron P. Klodt, N. Ramazanov, A. Loganovsky. The Gates of the Temple were made according to the models of Count F. Tolstoy.
The sculptural and pictorial decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was a rare unity - on all the walls of the Temple were placed the figures of the holy intercessors and prayer books for the Russian land, those domestic figures who worked to establish and spread the Orthodox faith, as well as Russian princes who laid down their lives for freedom and integrity of Russia.
The temple was a living chronicle of the struggle of the Russian people with the conqueror Napoleon, and the names of the valiant heroes, through whom God revealed salvation to the Russian people, were inscribed on marble plaques located in the lower gallery of the Temple.
May 26, 1883, on the Day of the Ascension of the Lord, the Solemn consecration of the Temple took place, which coincided with the Day of the Holy Coronation of Emperor Alexander III to the All-Russian Throne. On June 12 of the same year, the chapel was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and on July 8 the second chapel of the Temple was consecrated - in the name of St. Alexander Nevsky. Since that time, regular Divine Services began in the Temple.
Since 1901, the Temple had its own choir, which was considered one of the best in Moscow. It consisted of 52 people, and famous composers A.A. Arkhangelsky and P.G. Chesnokov. The works of their contemporary, also a major church composer A.D. Kastalsky. The voices of F.I. Chaliapin and K.V. Rosova. In the spring of 1912, a monument to Emperor Alexander III was erected in the square near the Temple - the work of the professor of architecture A.N. Pomerantsev and sculptor A.M. Opekushina (the monument lasted only six years and was destroyed in 1918).
August 15, 1917, in a troubled time for Russia, the opening of the Local Council took place in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, at which Russia, after a 200-year break, regained its Patriarch - he was elected His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, now canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as a Saint.
In 1918, after the revolution, a monument to Emperor Alexander III was dismantled in the square near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
1931 - fatal for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In accordance with Stalin's General Plan for the Reconstruction of Moscow, the Palace of Soviets was to become the architectural dominant of this area. August 18, 1931, exactly one month after the publication in Izvestia of the decision on the competition for the Palace of Soviets, work began on its dismantling on the site of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The territory adjacent to the Temple was surrounded by a fence.
The work was carried out in a great hurry: sheets of roof and dome sheathing were thrown down, breaking the lining and sculptures. Towing ropes were thrown over the sculptures and dragged out by the neck. Angels - so that their heads flew off and their wings broke - were thrown from a height to the ground, into the mud. Marble high reliefs were split, porphyry columns were crushed with jackhammers.
December 5, 1931 Temple-monument military glory, The Main Temple of Russia was barbarously destroyed. And this was not an easy task: it turned out that neither crowbar nor chisels could take the walls of the Temple, because they were made of large sandstone slabs, which, when laid, were filled with molten lead instead of cement.
Then we decided - we need to blow it up. After the first explosion, the Temple survived, and a new explosive charge had to be placed.
In a few hours it was all over. Here is what the literary critic L.V. wrote about this barbarism. Hartung: " B.L. and I (approx. B.L. Pasternak) watched from the window how the explosion of the Temple was being prepared, and after the building collapsed, sad, they moved away from the window, depressed and silent ...»
All more or less valuable things were adapted to the "needs of the national economy." Gold from the domes (and it was more than four hundred kilograms on the main one alone) was chemically washed off at the plant. V. Menzhinsky, the bells were melted down.
Only one bell from the clock tower survived intact, because seven years later it was added to the upper platform of the Northern river station. To resolve issues with the interiors, a special Commission for the Withdrawal of Artistic Values was created. This commission ordered to save one work by artists V. Surikov and G. Semiradsky ("The Last Supper").
Several high reliefs, made by sculptors A. Loganovsky and N. Ramadanov, were built into the fortress wall of the Donskoy Monastery. "Urban legends" say that many parts of the Temple, thoroughly altered, can be found in the subway, in parks, and in the lobbies of administrative buildings...
The opening of the Palace of Soviets was supposed to take place in 1933, but by 1941 only a reinforced concrete foundation more than 20 meters deep had been laid and a metal frame had been erected to about the height of the sixth floor.
Palace of Soviets project
In 1941, the Great Patriotic War broke out, and beams made of steel "DS" of special strength had to be used for the manufacture of anti-tank hedgehogs, and then part of the frame was dismantled to restore damaged railway bridges. After the war, only an abandoned pit remained from the grandiose construction site, the recesses in which began to fill with water. In the early 1950s, crucian carp appeared in the pit lakes ...
In 1958, during Khrushchev's godless "thaw", the "Moscow" pool appeared according to the project of the architect D. Chechulin, as a monument to the desecration and oblivion of national glory and history, which did not fit into the templates of the "builders of communism" tasks.
Pool "Moscow"
The Moscow speech habit, usually quickly responding to all sorts of innovations in urban life, assessed this event as follows: "First there was a Temple, then rubbish, and now shame." The water heated in the pool was appropriately chlorinated, as a result of which every winter strong evaporation from the surface caused corrosion of the surrounding buildings, and even posed a threat to the world's masterpieces stored in the Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin.
In the late 1980s, a social movement arose to recreate the Temple of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The project of the new Temple was completed by the architects M.M. Posokhin, A.M. Denisov and others. The pool was dismantled, and a huge stylobate was erected in its place, which now accommodates the hall of the Cathedrals of the Russian Orthodox Church, a museum in memory of the fallen in the Patriotic War of 1812, as well as many administrative and utility rooms. On the resulting platform, a monolithic reinforced concrete frame was erected with an external brick lining and subsequent marble lining. Domes were built on it using the same technology. An alloy was installed on one of the surviving original bells, and after studying the materials in the vibroacoustic laboratory at AMO-ZIL, the current set of bells was cast. Z. Tsereteli was involved in the new design of the cathedral. August 19, 1996, on the day of the Transfiguration, Patriarch Alexy II performed the rite of consecration of the lower Spaso-Transfiguration Church and the first liturgy in it. August 19, 2000 the great consecration of the Temple by the cathedral of bishops took place. Literature used:
1. xxc.ru
2. Moscow - historical guide
3. N.P. Yamskoy - Moscow boulevards
I understood that this temple should be majestic and colossal, should finally outweigh the glory of Peter's temple in Rome. It was necessary that each stone of it and all together be the speaking ideas of the religion of Christ, so that it was not a heap of stones, skillfully arranged; not a temple at all, but a Christian phrase, a Christian text.
The competition was attended by Giacomo Quarenghi, Osip Bove, Domenico Gilardi. But only Witberg managed to guess the desire of Emperor Alexander I to create a temple animated by a religious idea and make the stones speak. The architect's idea was so brilliant that it bordered on madness.
The lower temple, carved into the mountain, had the shape of a parallelogram, a coffin, a body; his appearance represented a heavy portal supported by almost Egyptian columns; he was lost in grief, in the wild uncultivated nature. Daylight fell scantly into it from the second temple, passing through the transparent image of the Nativity. All the heroes who fell in 1812 were to rest in this crypt, an eternal memorial service was to be served for those killed on the battlefield, the names of all of them, from commanders to privates, were to be carved on the walls. On this coffin, in this cemetery, the equal-ended Greek cross of the second temple is scattered in all directions - the temple of outstretched arms, life, suffering, labor. The colonnade leading to it was decorated with statues of Old Testament figures. The prophets stood at the entrance. They stood outside the temple, pointing out the path they didn't have to take. Inside this temple were all the gospel history and the history of the apostolic deeds. Above it, crowning it, ending and concluding, there was a third temple in the form of a rotunda. This temple, brightly lit, was the temple of the spirit, unperturbed peace, eternity, expressed by its ring-shaped plan. There were no images, no statues, only from the outside it was surrounded by a wreath of archangels and covered with a colossal dome.
Compared with modern temple Witberg was supposed to be 3 times larger and included the pantheon of the dead, a colonnade of 600 columns and a pyramid of captured cannons, monuments to monarchs and prominent commanders. It was planned to place the church on Sparrow Hills. And huge funds were allocated for the construction - 16 million rubles from the treasury and public donations.
On October 12, 1817, the first stone of the future Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Sparrow Hills was laid.
Guide to Architectural StylesAt first, construction progressed briskly, but soon the pace slowed down. As a result, in 7 years it was not even possible to complete the zero cycle, and the money went to no one knows where (later the commission counted 1 million rubles of embezzlement).
There were great difficulties with the materials: the stone for the construction of the temple was brought from the village of Grigovo, Vereisky district, and the village of Vasilyevsky near Moscow, on barges along the Moscow River. A dam was built to raise the water level. But during the work, the fields were littered with stones, and the owner of the village, Yakovlev, filed a lawsuit against Vitberg. As you know, trouble does not come alone: barges sank on the way to Moscow.
Nicholas I, who came to power in 1825, stopped construction. The official version was the insufficient reliability of the soil. At the same time, legal proceedings began - Vitberg and the construction managers were found guilty of embezzlement. In 1835, the architect was exiled to Vyatka, and his property was confiscated. Witberg's ideas with a pyramid and monuments to generals were never implemented. Even captured cannons brought to Moscow remained lying near the walls.
A new competition for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was not held: in 1831, Nicholas I personally appointed Konstantin Ton as the architect. After the story with Witberg, it was important to build not brilliantly, but economically. And Tone has won numerous cost-cutting bonuses.
Nicholas I personally chose a new place for the church - closer to. For this, it was necessary to demolish the Alekseevsky convent and transfer the nuns to Sokolniki. The work went on for 44 years, not stopping for a day, and it took 20 years to create the interior decoration. Konstantin Andreyevich Ton spent almost 50 years working on the construction of the main temple of Russia. He died not long before his consecration.
The church was painted by V.I. Surikov, V.P. Vereshchagin, I.M. Pryanishnikov, V.E. Makovsky, G.I. Semiradsky. Sculptural high reliefs were made by P.K. Klodt, N.A. Ramazanov and other eminent sculptors. The plots of the external high reliefs and internal paintings are associated with Christian holidays, which fell on the days of decisive battles - at Tarutino, Borodino, Maloyaroslavets. A pantheon of the Holy Protectors of Russia appeared on the walls - Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Daniel of Moscow, Sergius of Radonezh, Vasily the Blessed, Tsarevich Dmitry, Prince Vladimir and Princess Olga,. Among the high reliefs were images of the Mother of God - Smolensk, Vladimir, Iver.
And in the walls of the lower part of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 177 marble slabs were placed, where all the past battles were described, the composition of the troops, the names of the command, those killed, wounded and awarded were listed. On the walls of the church, one could even read the texts of orders for the army and royal manifestos - about the capture of Paris, the deposition of Napoleon, and the conclusion of peace.
The new temple is huge! A bell tower could fit inside. The height of the temple was 103 meters, and the diameter of the main dome was almost 30 meters. There were 14 bells on the bell towers. The largest of them weighed 1,654 pounds. And during the service in the temple could be 7,200 people.
In 1880, the church received official name- Cathedral in the name of Christ the Savior. And by 1881, work was completed on the construction of the embankment and the square around the temple. Konstantin Ton, by that time already a decrepit old man, was taken to the temple on a stretcher. But the lighting of the church was prevented by the death of Emperor Alexander II at the hands of terrorists.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was consecrated under Alexander III. And new church immediately became the center of many cultural events. For example, a year before the consecration, on August 20, 1882, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture was performed for the first time in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
But contemporaries perceived the church ambiguously. Taras Shevchenko compared it with "a fat merchant's wife in a golden warrior", Alexander Chayanov - with a Tula samovar, Alexander Herzen - with "five-headed vessels with onions instead of corks".
In January 1918, the state stopped funding churches. And on June 2, 1931, an order appeared to demolish the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for the construction of the Palace of Soviets in its place.
Muscovites grumbled, calling the new Palace an "inkpot", but they did not openly oppose the decision of the authorities.
Magnificent Cathedral of Christ
Our golden-headed giant,
What shone over the capital!
According to the brilliant idea of Ton
You were simple in majesty
Your giant crown
The sun burned over Moscow.
Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly,
Count Wittgenstein, Bagration -
Couldn't break on the battlefield
You even Napoleon himself!
Davydov, Figner and Seslavin,
Tuchkov, Raevsky, Baggovut -
Who was equal to you in courage
Let them be called!
I feel sorry for artists and architects,
Great forty years of work;
And the thought does not want to make peace,
That the temple of the Savior will be demolished.
Over this pride of Moscow
Many craftsmen worked
Neff, Vereshchagin, Loganovsky,
Tolstoy, Bruni and Vasnetsov.
Klodt, Semiradsky, Romozanov,
Makovsky, Markov - these are those
Who decorated with images
Temple in unspeakable beauty.
Nothing is sacred to us!
And isn't it a shame
What is a "cast gold cap"
She lay down on the chopping block under the ax!
Farewell, keeper of Russian glory,
Magnificent Cathedral of Christ
Our golden-headed giant,
What shone over the capital!
The idea of the Palace of Soviets arose from the fact that there was no suitable premises in Moscow for gathering representatives of the Union Republics. A competition was announced for which 160 projects were submitted.
Among the authors were Le Corbusier, Gropius, Mendelssohn. And the winner was the project of Boris Iofan in Stalin's favorite classic "grand style". The palace, 415 meters high, was supposed to be the tallest building in the world, and it would be crowned with a grandiose statue of Lenin. The leader's index finger alone stretched forward 6 meters, and the length of the foot reached fourteen! The project was monumental in every way: huge halls, elevators that lifted to the observation deck in the palm of Lenin, a giant parking lot that could even accommodate planes. And for the construction of the observation deck, a special “institute right hand».
Ironically, the hill above the Moskva River, where the Cathedral of Christ the Savior stood, was chosen as the place for the Palace of the Council.
The building of the temple was dismantled for several months, but the church did not give in. Then they decided to blow it up. On December 5, 1931, 2 explosions struck - after the first, the temple survived. All this happened in front of Ilya Ilf, who lived nearby. He recalled that powerful explosions shook not only nearby buildings, but were felt at a distance of several blocks.
It took almost 1.5 years to clear the wreckage. But the material was not in vain: the bells and the roof of the domes were melted down for casting sculptures at the Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station, the slabs with the names of the heroes of 1812 were used to decorate the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the construction of the stairs of the Tretyakov Gallery and the lining of the stations "and" Kropotkinskaya ". Only separate fragments of the decoration were transferred to museums (for example, some of the high reliefs ended up in the Museum of Architecture - they can still be seen today in the northern wall of the Donskoy Monastery). The remaining marble was crumbled to sprinkle paths in the parks.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets, begun in 1937, was not destined to be completed - the Great Patriotic War began, and the already prepared metal structures went to the manufacture of anti-tank hedgehogs.
Soon, the building, which had barely risen from the level of the foundation, had to be dismantled, and after the war, the Palace of Soviets was practically forgotten. From the grandiose project, only the metro station of the same name (now Kropotkinskaya) and a gas station on Volkhonka were built.
In 1960, the Moskva outdoor swimming pool appeared on the site of the temple. The wits joked: There was a temple, then rubbish, and now shame. The sports facility gained a bad reputation: people drowned there from time to time - allegedly a group acted, dissatisfied with the demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Also, the administration of the Pushkin Museum was dissatisfied with the neighborhood with the pool, since in winter the evaporation of hot water settled on the building and museum exhibits, destroying them. But this did not prevent the pool from working for more than 30 years.
In the late 1980s, a public movement appeared to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. And on December 5, 1990, a "mortgage" stone was installed, and in 1994 construction began.
What is what in the churchThere were enough materials to recreate the temple: many authentic fragments were hidden in the basements of the old building of Moscow State University, and photographs and measurements of the building taken before destruction were kept in the archives of the NKVD.
The author of the project to recreate the temple, Denisov, soon retired from work, giving way to Zurab Tsereteli. Under his leadership, not marble, but bronze high reliefs appeared on the white stone walls. This deviation from the original source caused a lot of controversy. The interiors were also painted by artists recommended by Tsereteli. Instead of the original white stone cladding, the building received marble, and the gilded roof was replaced with a coating based on titanium nitride. Large sculptural medallions on the facade of the temple were made of polymer material. All this was done in order to avoid the destruction of the decor on the temple, as was already the case with the marble and plaster decoration of the first church.
But experts said that if earlier temple could be read like a book, but now its pages are in disarray: some have been rearranged, and some have been torn out.
But still, the history of the Patriotic War of 1812 can be clearly traced in the architectural decoration of the temple: all the manifestos that were published during the war are listed on marble slabs in the corridor. All battles are described in chronological order. Opposite the altar there is a manifesto about the expulsion of the enemy on December 25, 1812. On the southern and western side are descriptions of the battles that took place abroad and manifestos about the capture of Paris, the deposition of Napoleon and the establishment of peace. The gallery of military glory has also been restored - 177 marble plaques with the names of the heroes of 1812.
Zurab Tsereteli participated in competitions for the manufacture of bas-reliefs and for the manufacture of crosses. In both cases, he won. At the same time, the decoration is not only aesthetically and historically elaborated, but also thought out from an engineering point of view. So, the massive doors of the temple are accessible even for an elderly person (you need strength to move a load weighing only 1.5 kg), and earlier, the efforts of several servants were required to open the doors.
Interior paintings were entrusted to Tsereteli after Ilya Glazunov, in a conversation with the mayor, noted that it was wrong if the artists who used to paint Lenin would paint Christ. There were few applicants who did not draw leaders.
By 1999, the new Cathedral of Christ the Savior was completed. But unlike its historical predecessor, the building became two-level, with the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the ground floor.
It is believed that in this way the curse of the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery was avoided. Almost nothing survived from the old temple: after the destruction of the church, the new government tried to eradicate all memory of it. But miraculously, 6 large paintings by the artist Vereshchagin and the icon “The Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands” by the artist Sorokin, painted on a zinc plate, were miraculously preserved.
Before blowing up the church, Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky was summoned by Lunacharsky and allowed to take something from the church as a keepsake. The Metropolitan took this particular icon. She was kept in his family for a long time. And during the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the descendants of Vvedensky found a well-packed bundle in old things. So they found the image of the Savior. Now the icon is located in the Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The current Cathedral of Christ the Savior almost does not differ from the previous one. In plan, it looks like an equilateral cross about 85 meters wide. The height of the cathedral with the main dome and the cross is 103 meters. The painting inside occupies about 22,000 m2, and almost half is gilded.
The temple also has a car wash and a patriarchal museum of ecclesiastical art. Conferences and concerts are held in the hall of Church Cathedrals. And under the dome there is an observation deck, from where an interesting view of Moscow opens.
They say that...... when the tsarist soldiers came to set fire to the ruins of the Alekseevsky monastery, the abbess refused to leave the monastery. They tried to take her away by force, but she chained herself to an old oak tree and predicted: “There will be nothing here, but a puddle here!” According to another version, she said about the future Cathedral of Christ the Savior: “Poor. He won't stay long." The nun burned down with her monastery, but the curse is still in effect, and the temple is in constant repair.
... Yuri Luzhkov himself spoke about the reconstruction of the temple as something mystical.
One day at the end of 1992, an intelligent-looking old woman with a shopping bag entered the mayor's office. She took out a heavy roll of newspaper, which contained an old leather-bound book.
The old woman explained that this was one of the first copies of the Bible in Russia. The book belonged to her late husband, and now she wants to give it to Luzhkov.
Yuri Mikhailovich began to refuse, but his interlocutor interrupted him:
- You don't understand. I don't want anything from you. I'm just handing over the book. And then, when you build a temple, give it to the Patriarch. Before his death, my husband ordered me to do exactly this: to hand over the book to the one who will restore the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, so that he - that is, you - would hand it over to the rector.
- Temple? What temple? We are not going to restore the Cathedral of Christ the Savior at all! Luzhkov objected.
- My husband said you would. And he was never wrong about such things.
Finally Yuri Mikhailovich gave up:
- The only thing I can promise is that when I finish my tenure as mayor, I will hand over the book to my successor. And he to his. And so on down the chain. Maybe someday someone will actually restore the temple. Then he will give the book to the abbot. And it will be possible to consider that the will of the deceased is fulfilled. Until then, I see no other way. The only way.
The old lady left. Meanwhile, the mayor became interested in the history of the construction of the temple and its destruction. It turned out that many events and folk legends were connected with this place. They concerned primarily the “old maiden” Alekseevsky monastery, which was expelled from here in connection with the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Rumors about a terrible curse circulated among the people for a long time: they say that everything that is built on this place will be destroyed.
During research work, it was found that the foundation for the Palace of Soviets was well preserved. And it was laid much below the zero mark of the destroyed temple. So the idea arose: to resurrect on this under-temple space Church of the Transfiguration"old maiden" monastery.
And on January 4, 1995, a prayer service was held in the Assumption Cathedral of Moscow for the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. And then on the site of the future temple took place procession and a capsule insert. And then the mysterious old woman reappeared. She began to come to the construction site every day. And when the lower church opened, and divine services began in it, I didn’t miss a single one. Finally, on December 31, 1999, the consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior took place.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow - Cathedral Russian Orthodox Church not far from the Kremlin on the left bank of the Moskva River, at a place previously called Chertoly. The existing building is an external reconstruction of the temple of the same name, created in the 19th century, carried out in the 1990s. The names of officers of the Russian army who fell in the war of 1812 and other close military campaigns were inscribed on the walls of the temple.
The original was erected in gratitude to God for saving Russia from the Napoleonic invasion: “to preserve the eternal memory of that unparalleled zeal, fidelity and love for the Faith and Fatherland, with which the Russian people exalted themselves in these difficult times, and to commemorate Our gratitude to the Providence of God, which saved Russia from the death that threatened her.
It was designed by the architect Konstantin Ton. Construction lasted almost 44 years: the temple was founded on September 23, 1839, consecrated on May 26, 1883.
On December 5, 1931, the temple building was destroyed. It was rebuilt on the same site in 1999.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow- the largest in the Russian Church. Designed for 10,000 people. In plan, the temple looks like an equilateral cross about 85 m wide. The height of the temple with a dome and a cross is currently 105 m (3.5 m higher than St. Isaac's Cathedral). It was erected in the traditions of the so-called Russian-Byzantine style, which enjoyed wide state support at the time of the start of construction. The painting inside the temple occupies about 22,000 m?, of which about 9,000 m? are gilded.
As part of a modern complex Cathedral of Christ the Savior includes:
- "upper temple" - actually the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It has 3 thrones - the main one in honor of the Nativity of Christ and 2 side ones in the choirs - in the name of Nicholas the Wonderworker (southern) and the holy prince Alexander Nevsky (northern). Consecrated on August 6 (19), 2000.
- "lower temple" - the Church of the Transfiguration, built in memory of the women's Alekseevsky monastery located on this site. It has three altars: the main one - in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord and two small chapels - in honor of Alexy the Man of God and the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. The church was consecrated on August 6 (19), 1996.
The idea of building temples-monuments goes back to ancient tradition votive churches, erected as a token of thanksgiving for the victory and in eternal remembrance of the dead. The tradition of memorial temples has been known since pre-Mongolian times: Yaroslav the Wise erected Sophia of Kyiv in Kiev on the site of the battle with the Pechenegs. In the era of the Battle of Kulikovo, numerous churches were built in honor of Christmas Holy Mother of God- a holiday that fell on the day of the battle of the Russian army with the troops of Mamai. In Moscow, in memory of the fallen and to commemorate military victories, the Church of All Saints, the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat (better known as St. Basil's), and the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (Kazan Cathedral) on Red Square were built.
On December 25, 1812, when the last Napoleonic soldiers left Russia, Emperor Alexander I signed the Supreme Manifesto on the construction of a church in Moscow, which at that time lay in ruins:
“The salvation of Russia from enemies, as numerous by forces as by evil and ferocious intentions and deeds, carried out in six months of all their extermination, so that with the most rapid flight, only the smallest part of them could go beyond Our borders, is clearly poured out on Russia goodness God, there is a truly memorable incident that the ages will not erase from everyday life.
In order to preserve the eternal memory of that unparalleled zeal, fidelity and love for the Faith and for the Fatherland, with which the Russian people exalted themselves in these difficult times, and in commemoration of Our gratitude to the Providence of God, which saved Russia from the death that threatened her, We set out in Our Mother See of Moscow to create a church in the name of the Savior Christ, a detailed decree about which will be announced in due time.
May the Almighty bless Our undertaking! May it be done! May this Temple stand for many centuries, and may the censer of gratitude of later generations smoke in it before the Holy Throne of God, along with love and imitation of the deeds of their ancestors.- Alexander I
After the victory over Napoleon in 1814, the project was refined: it was decided to build a cathedral in the name of Christ the Savior within 10-12 years.
In the same 1814, an international open competition was held with the participation of such respected architects as Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Stasov and others. However, to the surprise of many, the project of 28-year-old Karl Magnus Witberg, an artist (not even an architect), a freemason and moreover, a Lutheran. The project, according to contemporaries, was really exceptionally beautiful. Compared to the current temple of Witberg, it was three times larger, included the Pantheon of the Dead, a colonnade (600 columns) of captured cannons, as well as monuments to monarchs and prominent commanders. In order to approve the project, Witberg was baptized into Orthodoxy. It was decided to place the building on Sparrow Hills. Huge funds were allocated for the construction: 16 million rubles from the treasury and considerable public donations.
A. Vitberg project
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On October 12, 1817, on the 5th anniversary of the departure of the French from Moscow, in the presence of Tsar Alexander I, the first church designed by Witberg was founded on Sparrow Hills. Construction at first proceeded vigorously (20,000 serfs near Moscow took part in it), but soon the pace dropped sharply. For the first 7 years it was not possible to complete even the zero cycle. The money went to no one knows where (later the commission counted the embezzlement for almost a million rubles).
After the accession to the throne of Nicholas I in 1825, the construction had to be stopped, according to the official version, due to insufficient reliability of the soil; Witberg and construction managers were charged with embezzlement and put on trial. The process lasted 8 years. In 1835, "for abuse of the emperor's trust and for damages to the treasury," the defendants were fined one million rubles. Witberg himself was exiled to Vyatka (where, in particular, he met Herzen, who devoted a chapter to him in Past and Thoughts); all his property was confiscated. Many historians consider Witberg honest man guilty only of negligence. His link did not last long, later Witberg participated in the construction Orthodox cathedrals in Perm and Tiflis.
A new competition was not held, and in 1831 Nicholas I personally appointed the architect Konstantin Ton, whose "Russian-Byzantine" style was close to the tastes of the new emperor. A new place on Chertolye (Volkhonka) was also chosen by Nicholas I himself; buildings that were there were bought and demolished. The Alekseevsky convent located there, a monument of the 17th century, was also demolished (transferred to Krasnoye Selo). Moscow rumor has preserved the legend that the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery, dissatisfied with such a turn, cursed the place and predicted that nothing would stand on it for long.
The second temple, unlike the first, was built almost entirely at public expense.
The solemn laying of the cathedral took place on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino - in August 1837. However, active construction began only on September 10, 1839 and lasted almost 44 years; the total cost of the Temple reached 15 million rubles. The vault of the large dome was completed in 1849; in 1860 the outer scaffolding was dismantled. For another 20 years, work on the interior decoration continued; famous masters V. I. Surikov, I. N. Kramskoy, V. P. Vereshchagin and other famous artists of the Imperial Academy of Arts worked on the painting.
Similar temples were built in Novocherkassk, Baku and a number of other cities. In the former Cossack capital of Novocherkassk, it stands to this day.
On May 26 (June 7), 1883, a solemn consecration took place Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow performed by Metropolitan Ioanniky (Rudnev) of Moscow with a host of clergy and in the presence of Emperor Alexander III, who was crowned in the Moscow Kremlin shortly before.
Architectural and artistic merit Cathedral of Christ the Savior questioned by many figures of Russian culture; in particular, a negative review by I. E. Grabar is known.
The activity in the temple very soon became a noticeable phenomenon in social and cultural life, it was the center of many cultural events and educational activities.
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A year before the consecration, on August 20, 1882, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, written by the composer to commemorate Russia's victory in the war against Napoleon, was first performed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The church had its own choir, which was considered one of the best in Moscow. Among the regents were the famous composers A. A. Arkhangelsky and P. G. Chesnokov, the works of another major church composer A. D. Kastalsky were performed, the voices of Fyodor Chaliapin and Konstantin Rozov sounded.
AT Cathedral of Christ the Savior coronations, national holidays and anniversaries were solemnly celebrated: the 500th anniversary of the death of Sergius of Radonezh, the 100th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the opening of monuments to Alexander III and Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The main patronal feast of the temple - the Nativity of Christ - until 1917 was celebrated by Orthodox Moscow as a holiday of Victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. A rich library was created in the temple, in which there were many valuable publications, and excursions were constantly held.
The last dean of the temple was Hieromartyr Alexander Khotovitsky (August 1917-1922).
Since 1922, the temple was under the jurisdiction of the Renovationist Higher Church Administration Metropolitan Antonin, and later the renovationist Holy Synod - until the closure in 1931. rector Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow in those years was one of the leaders of renovationism, Metropolitan Alexander Vvedensky.
On December 5, 1931, the temple-monument of military glory was destroyed by an explosion. On June 2, 1931, an order was given to demolish the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in order to build the Palace of Soviets in its place.
The idea of building a church arose in the winter of 1812 at one of the meetings of the Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word society, chaired by the statesman and poet Gavriil Derzhavin. The proposal was submitted to Tsar Alexander I, and a few days later, on Christmas Day 1812 (December 25, old style), a manifesto appeared signed by the sovereign, which said: “In preserving the eternal memory of that unparalleled zeal, loyalty and love for the Faith and to the Fatherland, with which the Russian people exalted themselves in these difficult times, and in commemoration of Our gratitude to the Providence of God, which saved Russia from the death that threatened her, We set out to create a church in Our Mother See Moscow in the name of the Savior Christ ... ”The manifesto was widely supported by the most different representatives of Russian society.
Soon an international competition for the design of the temple was announced. Alexander I wanted it not only to perpetuate the history of war and salvation. The stone form should reflect the "mission of the Russian people." And such a project was found. Unexpectedly for many, the 28-year-old architect of Swedish origin Carl Mangus Witberg won. His project stood out from the rest in scale - the height of the temple was to be 237 meters, almost two-thirds higher than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It included a square with colonnades over 600 meters long and triumphal columns cast from captured enemy cannons. After evaluating the project, Alexander I said: “You made the stones speak!”
In 1817, in the presence of almost the entire population of Moscow at that time - about 400 thousand people - the first stone was solemnly laid on Sparrow Hills. And if this project were destined to come true, today we would be able to see the temple from anywhere in Moscow. The vigorous pace of construction, taken at the first stages, soon noticeably decreased due to problems with the infrastructure, and after the death of Alexander I in 1825, work stopped altogether. Nicholas I, who ascended the throne, was not sensitive to his brother's "mystical revelations" and stopped the project. According to the official version, the land on which the temple was built was unsuitable for construction. The architect himself, who managed to change his name from Karl Mangus to Alexander Lavrentievich, was convicted of embezzlement and exiled to Vyatka. Whether he was guilty or not, historians are still arguing. However, the temple of Alexander Nevsky, built by Vitberg in Kirov in memory of the emperor, until the destruction in the 20th century, testified in favor of the architect more eloquently than any other arguments.
Nicholas I did not abandon the idea of construction, but decided to consider new projects, among which the one proposed by Konstantin Ton, the architect of the Nikolaevsky railway station (now Leningradsky), the Grand Kremlin Palace and other buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, received special attention. The project was made in the Russian-Byzantine style and, with some reservations, was the temple that can be seen today on Volkhonka. Chertolye was chosen as a place for construction (today - the area next to the Kropotkinskaya metro station). The townspeople associated the name with the devil and this explained the difficult fate of the Alekseevsky monastery located here, which for various reasons was destroyed, burned down and recreated again several times.
However, Nicholas I did not care about superstition. Moreover, he was ready to demolish the Alekseevsky Monastery in order to build a new one. According to legend, the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery, having learned that all the buildings were ordered to be demolished, said: "Apart from a large puddle, there will be nothing here." According to another version, she said about the future Cathedral of Christ the Savior: “Poor. He won't stay long." According to the third, she completely cursed this place with the name of St. Alexis. The events of subsequent years confirmed the first and second versions.
Alekseevsky monastery
It was founded in the second half of the 14th century, until the 16th century it was located on the site of the current Zachatievsky Monastery on Ostozhenka Street. The monastery burned down during the Moscow fire of 1547 and was restored by order of Ivan the Terrible on the site where the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is located today. Later, the monastery and adjacent buildings burned down more than once and were rebuilt again. For a long time, members of the Romanov family and high-ranking nobles prayed in its churches. In the 19th century, Nicholas I ordered the monastery to be moved in order to clear a place for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and a new one, called Novo-Alekseevsky, was built in Krasnoye Selo (near the Krasnoselskaya metro station). After the revolution of 1917, the monastery was abolished, part of it was destroyed. The surviving buildings at different times housed the House of Pioneers, scientific institutions and an umbrella factory. At the end of the 20th century, the buildings were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Some churches still operate today.
The temple was built over forty years. Grandiose funds were again allocated for its construction. The previous mistakes with the infrastructure have not been repeated. In order to conveniently deliver stone for construction, one of the projects of the time of Peter the Great was carried out to connect the Sestra and Istra rivers near Moscow with a canal.
Lake Senezh
During the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the builders had difficulties with the delivery of building materials from other regions of Russia. Even during the first construction under the leadership of Alexander Vitberg, there were cases when out of ten barges with a stone, one or two sailed to the construction site. The problem was solved by a canal dug in the Moscow region between the rivers Istra and Sestra. He allowed building materials to be transported along the Moscow River directly to the construction site. It took a quarter of a century to build the canal. However, ten years later, goods began to be transported by rail. As a result of the digging of the canal, Lake Senezh has significantly increased. From a small lake, it turned into a reservoir with an area of 15 km². Today Senezh is the largest lake in the Moscow region. People come here from Moscow and nearby cities to swim, fish and hunt. The most famous among connoisseurs of the beauty of this area was the landscape painter Isaac Levitan. It was here that he worked on his last painting “Lake. Rus".
The main work ended in 1880. Konstantin Ton, by that time already a decrepit old man, was taken to the temple on a stretcher. Nicholas I did not live to see the end of construction either. The temple was planned to be consecrated in 1881. However, the ceremony was canceled due to the bomb of the Narodnaya Volya that killed Alexander II. The consecration took place only in 1883, on the day of the coronation of Alexander III, which took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. In subsequent years, more and more major religious holidays were celebrated in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior: the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, the 100th anniversary of the end of the war of 1812, and others. And until 1918, Christmas was celebrated as the day of the salvation of Russia and victory in the Patriotic War.
The temple stood for a little over 50 years. In the summer of 1931, at the direction of Joseph Stalin, it was decided to demolish it to build the main building of the USSR - the Palace of Soviets. Just as in past centuries, a competition was announced, but not international, but all-Union. It was won by Boris Iofan, the architect of the House on the Embankment. Demolition work has begun on the church. Since it was not possible to completely dismantle the building, it was decided to blow it up. A few years later, construction began, which was never completed. During the Second World War, metal structures intended for the construction of the palace were used to restore bridges. After the war, it was decided to place a swimming pool in the foundation left from the building.
Europe's largest swimming pool "Moskva", which could swim all year round, was opened in 1960. The sports facility has a bad reputation. People drowned there from time to time - a radical group allegedly acted, dissatisfied with the demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Nobody forgot about the temple for 30 years. It was said that at night the temple was reflected in the water of the pool. The administration of the Museum was dissatisfied with the proximity to the pool. Pushkin: experts complained that in winter the evaporation of hot water settled on the building and museum exhibits, destroying them. However, neither rumors nor requests prevented the pool from working for more than 30 years, before the start of work on the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1994.
Just like 200 years ago, writers were among the initiators of the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The decree was issued by the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. Money for the temple was collected "by the whole world." The construction, which in the 19th century took about forty years, was completed in three years. The building was restored according to the design of Konstantin Ton under the guidance of architect Alexei Denisov, later - Zurab Tsereteli. Appearance and decoration of the temple are distinguished by some details, the most noticeable of which are bas-reliefs. Until 1931 they were made of white stone, now they are bronze. The height of the temple has increased slightly. The interior decoration has changed significantly. Almost nothing from the temple that stood on this site until 1931 is here. However, this does not mean that there is nothing left.
What happened to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior after the explosion
decoration
When the decision to demolish the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was finally made, a commission began to work, which had to choose what should be preserved. It was decided to transfer icons, utensils and other items to the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, as well as to the Anti-Religious Museum of Art, which was located in St. Isaac's Cathedral Petersburg.
But even after the explosion, objects of decoration of the temple continued to appear in various institutions of Moscow. For example, the surviving high reliefs can still be seen on one of the walls of the Donskoy Monastery near the Shabolovskaya metro station. Four jasper columns of the altar, according to one version, are located in the building of the Academic Council of the Moscow state university. According to rumors, in the basements of one of the buildings of Moscow State University on Mokhovaya there are other items from the decoration of the temple. The altar, according to legend, was either presented to the wife of the American president, Eleanor Roosevelt, or bought by her and donated to the Vatican. According to another version, they wanted to sell it, but they could not dismantle it, so it was destroyed.
bells
Of the fourteen bells of the temple, only one survived. For some time he was in the building of the Northern River Station in Khimki near Moscow. Other bells were melted down. According to one version, they were used in the casting of the famous sculptures at the Ploshchad Revolyutsii metro station.
Stone
The stone left after the explosion was used in the decoration of the Kropotkinskaya, Novokuznetskaya and, possibly, Sverdlov Square (now Teatralnaya) metro stations, as well as the Moskva Hotel. Benches and lamps from the temple in a slightly modified form are located at the Novokuznetskaya metro station. Boards with the names of the heroes of the war of 1812 were used to build stairs in the Tretyakov Gallery, as well as for finishing the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The remaining signs were crushed and sprinkled with them on the paths in the Park of Culture and Rest named after. Gorky.
