Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the largest orthodox church in Russia. It celebrates Russia's victory over Napoleon’s army in 1812. A neoclassical design by Aleksandr Vitberg had originally been chosen. He suggested building the cathedral on the Sparrow Hills, one of the highest points in Moscow, and decorating it with trophies of arms and monuments to Russian emperors and commanders. However, in the end, Emperor Nicholas I preferred the design by Konstantin Thon over that by Vitberg and ordered the cathedral to be built in another location. Thus, in 1883, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a magnificent church was erected. Prominent artists including Vasily Surikov, Vasily Vereshchagin, and Henryk Siemiradzki painted its interior walls. In 1931, it was destroyed on the order of Joseph Stalin and later replaced with a huge open-air swimming pool. The cathedral was rebuild at the original site in the 1990s. Now, up to 10 thousand people can attend the liturgy there.