Russian Architecture in the Heart of St. Petersburg

By
Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
Most of the great buildings in St. Petersburg are built in the European style, looking similar to Prague. The building in our fair city displaying the best Russian architecture is the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood. Built in the medieval Russian style with "onion domes" on the spires, this church strongly resembles famous Moscow churches.


The name of the church is closely tied to its history. The story goes back to 1881. Tsar Alexander II was riding along the canal in a carriage when an anarchist threw a bomb at him in an attempted assassination. The Tsar was so upset with the bomber that he exited his carriage to reprimand him.
Assassination of Alexander II



A second anarchist, taking advantage of the situation, threw another bomb. Tsar Alexander II was severely injured and later died at the Winter Palace. His son Tsar Alexander III vowed to build a church on the very street where his father's blood was spilled. Today the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood straddles this spot.




The Altar area 
Last fall, we visited this orthodox church, which is now a national museum. The church is as beautiful inside as it is outside.
Details of mosaic tiles




The interior  walls are covered entirely in pictures made of mosaic tiles. They portray scenes from Biblical history including the life of Jesus and the twelve Apostles.





The Christmas story in pictures
The arched ceiling continues the life of Jesus, spreading into the domes. It is truly beautiful to see.



Everywhere one looks, the story of the Bible is loudly proclaimed, entirely made of mosaics.

Shrine to the Tsar



In the back of the church, an elaborate shrine to Tsar Alexander II was built in the spot where he was assassinated. The covered structure is decorated with precious gems. The floor of the shrine is open down to the ground, exposing the cobblestone street where the assassination actually took place.



When you come to St. Petersburg, this should be on your "must see" list.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Home Sweet Home" - Not American Version

By
Image
Older apartment buildings We've lived in St. Petersburg for close to two months and have yet to see "the American dream" - a single family house. Here, everyone lives in an apartment, located either in an old building in the historic city center or in a new high-rise farther out. The high-rise buildings are everywhere you look--in the center of everything, or at the edge of one of the many rivers. We keep hearing about the communist era cement buildings, but we haven't seen many that look too old and dilapidated. They are probably replaced by the new high-rises built since freedom came in the 1990s. We live in one of these new high-rise complexes. Our third-floor apartment is in a 21 story building in a complex of five other buildings (called korpus in Russia). We live in Korpus 3. This complex includes several modern, colorful play areas for the children. It also includes an underground parking garage for the many cars that people own. In fact, the pl
Read more

The Golden Domes of Riga

By
Image
Orthodox Cathedral - Riga  The golden domes of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral stand out above the trees near Old Town Riga. We walk past this large building in the park not far from our apartment.  The domes shine out to the citizens on sunny days. Surrounded by the trees in the park, the walls of the cathedral are not easy to see in summer, but the size is undeniable. Of course, the golden domes tell everyone that this is a Russian Orthodox Church. After living in St. Petersburg, that is easy for us to define with the Russian style architecture. This cathedral was built between 1876 and 1883 when Latvia was a part of the Russian Empire under the reign of Tsar Alexander II.  Main Door This is the largest Orthodox Church in the entire Baltic area. A massive tower rises toward the sky when a visitor approaches the front door.  Entryway painting I visited several orthodox churches during my years in Europe. The thing that they have in common is that the interiors are covered with images
Read more

Why Roosters?

By
Image
Rooster on top of Dom Cathedral  Last week I wrote about cats being on the roof of a building, but today I'm going to share the reason that we have roosters sitting on the tip of churches in Riga. When we first moved to Riga, we noticed that some churches have the usual crosses on the top of them, but others have roosters sitting on top of the steeple. I couldn't recall ever seeing a rooster on top of a steeple. On doing more research, I was wrong to think that other countries don't have these on steeples. I found out that's it's common in European countries to see roosters on top of Lutheran churches. Our Lady of Sorrows Church The more common cross on the top of a steeple is found on Catholic churches in Europe. We have a couple of them in Old Town Riga as well. And, some Catholic churches in Europe have roosters sitting on top of crosses. So, the question popping into my head is why a rooster? After looking at several sources, it seems like ther
Read more