Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, Russia

 

The original Cathedral took many years to build and was finished in 1860. After the Revolution and the death of Lenin, the site of the cathedral was chosen by the Soviets as the site for a monument to socialism known as the Palace of the Soviets. On 5 December 1931, by order of Stalin's minister Kaganovich, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble. It took more than a year to clear the debris from the site. The construction of the Palace of Soviets was interrupted owing 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 the world's largest open air swimming pool, it was called the Moskva Pool. In February 1990, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission from the Soviet Government to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. In 1994 the pool was demolished and the cathedral reconstruction commenced. The completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated on the Transfiguration day, 19 August 2000. There is now a footbridge across the river that was constructed between 21 June 2003 and 3 September 2004. This church served as the venue when the last Russian Tsar, and his family were glorified as saints in 2000. The first Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who died of heart failure on 23 April 2007, lay in state in the cathedral prior to his burial in Novodevichy Cemetery.