The Church of Savior on the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

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Hey guys,

Today we are going to talk about a very special sight in St. Petersburg: The Church of Savior on the Spilled Blood.

Again, as with the other sights in St. Petersburg, I was very impressed by the architecture. The "Church of the Blood", as it is also called, is characterized by a "neo-Russian" style. This comes from Tsar Alexander III, who commissioned the church at the end of the 19th century. It is modeled on St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Alexander III attached special importance to the type of the building: the church should have the form of a sacral building. Thus, it should reflect the Orthodox faith.

Special attention was paid to the architecture: Old Russian architecture can be found here. In addition, the interior of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ is full of splendor: mosaic paintings and, above all, precious marble carvings. The mosaics are created from painted patterns of Russian painters.They are located on an area of 7 000 square meters. A conspicuous shrine is now enthroned on the very spot where Alexander II was killed.

Thus, the church belongs to one of the largest collections of mosaics in Europe. Also, no other church in Saint Petersburg has the onion domes that characterize it.

The church was built to commemorate Emperor Alexander II, in the very place where he was killed by the members of the terrorist organization " People's Will".What many do not know: The attack not only killed Tsar Alexander II, but also student Ignatii Grinevitsky. The latter was one of the bomb throwers. That is why the church is sometimes called "Spas na Krovi" - "Redemption on the Blood".

The domes of the church are gilded and equipped with copper sheets. There is also a main altar with a canopy. Here, too, there is a golden bell tower (as is so often the case with churches in St. Petersburg ), which is located on the canal. The bell tower can be seen best from here.

A bit of history;):

At the same time, the church was used differently at different times: During the tsarist period, masses for the dead and services in memory of the slain tsar were held. During the revolution, the church was damaged and was to be demolished. In the Soviet Union it was then used as a theater. Today, the main focus is on the concept of a monument: now it is a mosaic museum.

And this is the best way to reach the church: it is located near the Nevsky Prospekt metro station, on the quay of the Griboyedov Canal.

And so you can visit the church: Unfortunately I don't know how it looks like in pandemic times, I was there before Corona came ;) A guided tour I imagine rather more difficult, but you can usually visit the church individually. In the "vicinity" are also the Isaac Cathedral or the Peter-Paul Fortress (if you want to know more about them feel free to look at my last post ;)), where you can make a side trip. But the Church of the Blood is almost a must when you are in St. Petersburg!

I hope you liked my post, even if there was a lot of information here (especially cultural and historical). See you next time :)

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