Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the most beautiful and mysterious temples in St. Petersburg. The nine-domed handsome temple, built in a rare style of Russian architecture for the northern capital, stands on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built in 1907 in memory of Emperor Alexander II, who was mortally wounded at this place — the phrase "on blood" refers to the blood of the sovereign. The construction of the temple for 24 years was carried out with funds collected throughout Russia. On the outside of the temple there are 20 commemorative plaques about the most important events of the reign of Alexander II. The total height of the cathedral is 81 meters (symbol of the year of the death of the emperor). During the construction of the temple, a new technology was used - instead of piles, a concrete base was made. A variety of materials were used in the decoration of the cathedral, from bricks and marble to semi-precious stones. The whole temple inside and outside is decorated with amazing mosaics. The greatest masters of that time – artists Vasnetsov, Nesterov, and others - worked on their sketches. This mosaic exhibition is one of the largest in Europe today. Inside the temple you can see the place where the carriage of Alexander II was blown up.

The history of the temple is amazing and mysterious, what was not in it! The temple could have been destroyed three times and miraculously survived, it had a morgue and a vegetable storehouse, a warehouse of theatrical scenery and a stone-crushing workshop. There is a legend that one of the icons of the temple carries information about the past and future of our country: if you look at the icon for a long time and carefully, you can find in it the dates of turning points in national history.