Brigg Thorp
Christ the Savior
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
This gargantuan cathedral now dominates the skyline along the Moscow River. It sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name, built between 1839 and 1860, and finally consecrated in 1883. The church commemorates Russia’s victory over Napoleon. The original was destroyed during Stalin’s orgy of explosive secularism. Stalin planned to replace the church with a 315m-high Palace of Soviets (including a 100m-high statue of Lenin), but the project never got off the ground. Instead, for 50 years the site served an important purpose: the world’s largest swimming pool. This time around, the church was completed in a mere two years, in time for Moscow’s 850th birthday in 1997, and at an estimated cost of US$350 million. It is amazingly opulent, garishly grandiose and truly historic.
Christ the Savior
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
This gargantuan cathedral now dominates the skyline along the Moscow River. It sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name, built between 1839 and 1860, and finally consecrated in 1883. The church commemorates Russia’s victory over Napoleon. The original was destroyed during Stalin’s orgy of explosive secularism. Stalin planned to replace the church with a 315m-high Palace of Soviets (including a 100m-high statue of Lenin), but the project never got off the ground. Instead, for 50 years the site served an important purpose: the world’s largest swimming pool. This time around, the church was completed in a mere two years, in time for Moscow’s 850th birthday in 1997, and at an estimated cost of US$350 million. It is amazingly opulent, garishly grandiose and truly historic.