Christ the Savior Cathedral - Christ-Erlöser-Kathedrale
No other site in Moscow chronicles the successive changing of the guard more than the site of the recently rebuilt Church of Christ the Saviour. The original cathedral was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to honour Napolean's expulsion in 1812. It took 40 million bricks and 45 years to build and only one day to destroy. In 1931, the monument was imploded on Stalin's directives to make was for the grandiose monstrosity, the Palace of Soviets. Fortunately, this most resented construction never really got off of the ground, and by the late 1950's and Khrushchev's thaw, it had become one of the biggest swimming pools in the world. The original design was reconstructed as colsely as possible, although this time concrete was used and a huge parking lot was added.
More information: The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Хра́м Христа́ Спаси́теля) is the tallest Eastern Orthodox church in the world. It is situated in Moscow, on the bank of the Moskva River. This is not the oldest church in town, nor is it historically revered, but it is the largest and the most expensive, and it has become an unmistakable part of the skyline. It occupies such a key geographical and political spot in today's Moscow that it warrants a visit.
When the last of Napoleon's soldiers left Moscow, Tsar Alexander I signed a manifesto, December 25, 1812, declaring his intention to build a Cathedral in honor of Christ the Saviour "to signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her" and as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
It took some time for actual work on the projected cathedral to get started. The first finished architectural project was endorsed by Alexander I in 1817. It was a flamboyant Neoclassical design full of Freemasonic symbolism. Construction works were begun on the Sparrow Hills, the highest point in Moscow, but the site proved insecure.
In the meantime Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas. Profoundly Orthodox and patriotic, the new Tsar disliked the Neoclassicism and Freemasonry of the project endorsed by his brother. He commissioned his favourite architect Konstantin Thon to create a new design, taking as his model Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Thon's Neo-Byzantine design was approved in 1832, and a new site, closer to the Moscow Kremlin, was chosen by the Tsar in 1837. A convent and church on the site had to be relocated, so that the cornerstone was not laid until 1839.
The Cathedral had taken many years to build and did not emerge from its scaffolding until 1860; elaborate frescos by some of the best Russian painters continued in the interior for another twenty years. The Cathedral was consecrated at the very day Alexander III was crowned, May 26, 1883. A year earlier, Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted there.
The inner sanctum of the church (naos) was ringed by a two-floor gallery, its walls inlaid with rare sorts of marble, granite, and other precious stones. The ground floor of the gallery was a memorial dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The walls displayed more than 1,000 square meters of Carrara bianca marble plaques enlisting major commanders, regiments, and battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 (with the lists of awards and casualties appended). The second floor of the gallery was occupied by church choirs.
After the Revolution and, more specifically, the death of Lenin, the prominent site of the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of Soviets. This monument was to rise in modernistic, buttressed tiers to support a gigantic statue of Lenin perched atop a dome with his arm raised in blessing. On December 5, 1931, by order of Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted due to a lack of funds, problems with flooding from the nearby Moskva River, and the outbreak of war. The flooded foundation hole remained on the site until, under Nikita Khrushchev, it was transformed into a huge public swimming pool.
With the end of the Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, in February 1990. A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year.
A construction fund was opened in 1992 and foundations began to be poured in the autumn of 1994. The lower church (Church of the Transfiguration) was consecrated in 1996, and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated August 19, 2000.
Die Christ-Erlöser-Kathedrale (russ. Храм Христа Спасителя/ Transkription Chram Christa Spassitelja) in Moskau bildet den größten Russisch-orthodoxen Kirchenbau der Welt. Die Kirche steht westlich des Kreml, direkt am Ufer der Moskwa.
Die ursprüngliche 103 m hohe Moskauer Christ-Erlöser-Kathedrale wurde von 1860-1883 am Ufer der Moskwa gebaut. Anlass für den Bau der Kathedrale war der Sieg Russlands über Napoleon Bonaparte. Der Architekt war Konstantin Andrejewitsch Thon. Am 20. August 1882 wurde hier Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowskis Ouvertüre 1812 mit großem Erfolg uraufgeführt. Am 5. Dezember 1931 ließ Lasar Kaganowitsch mit Einverständnis von Stalin das Kirchenbauwerk sprengen, um auf dem Grundstück den Palast der Sowjets bauen zu lassen.
Nachdem sich die Fundamente als nicht tragfähig erwiesen, wurde auf dem Boden eine beheizbare Badeanstalt (Schwimmbad Moskwa) errichtet. Nach Zusammenbruch des Kommunismus in der Sowjetunion wurde der Wiederaufbau der Kathedrale 1990 beschlossen. Das marode Schwimmbad wurde abgerissen, 1992 erfolgte die Grundsteinlegung, am 19. August 2000 wurde die Kirche wiedereröffnet. Der Wiederaufbau gehörte zu den großen Bauprojekten des Moskauer Oberbürgermeisters Juri Luschkow; der Großteil der geschätzten 200 Millionen US-Dollar Baukosten stammt aus Spenden von Gläubigen.
Die Fresken im Inneren der Kirche wurden von vielen berühmten russischen Malern geschaffen wie z.B. Wassili Iwanowitsch Surikow, Jewgraf Semjonowitsch Sorokin.
