 |
| Church of the Spilled Blood |
If it would not have been for the assassination of Tsar
Alexander II in March 1881, the church of the Spilled Blood would possibly
never have been built.
 |
| Tsar Alexander II |
Alexander was a reformer. He wanted to and did in 1861 abolish
serfdom (equivalent of slavery) in Russia, reform the army and navy, overhaul
the judicial system, modernize local government, finance, economic and
educational policy to bring Russia to par with the rest of the world. He
abolished censorship, which brought in an era of ‘glasnost’ which was until
then unknown in Russia.
 |
| Empress Maria Alexandrovna |
His private life followed accepted norms. His wife Maria
Alexandrovna gave him seven children. However, when Alexander reached 47 years
and midlife crisis, he fell in love with much younger (17 years) Yakaterina
Dolgorukaya. She in turn bore him three children. The whole ‘extended family’
lived in the Winter Palace (Hermitage) which made wife number one very unhappy.
He did marry his second love after his first wife had died in 1880.
 |
| Samples of Mosaics |
 |
| Church Chandelier |
Apart from the ‘far right’ of the nobility, who saw their
privileges diminish under the benevolent Tsar, he was respected and admired for
his new approach by the liberal minded Population of Russia as well as all over
Europe. Unfortunately Russia did not have a Department of Homeland Security,
otherwise a bomb thrown on 1 March 1881 by the party of the People’s Will may
never have been thrown and fatally injured the Tsar, Russian may have followed
a different more liberal direction as a result of Russia’s greatest reformer Alexander
II being at the helm.
.jpg) |
| 1 March 1881 - Assassination of Alexander II |
As it happened, he was fatally wounded by this very bomb,
when he left his carriage on the bank of the Catherine Canal in St Petersburg
to confront his assailants. He was rushed to the Winter Palace, where he
succumbed to his injuries.
 |
| Alexander II - Canopy over the site of bomb attack |
Alexander III, the next Tsar, erected the Cathedral of the Spilled
Blood over the site where the attack occurred. Actually a small part of the
Catherine Canal was filled in, to accommodate the chapel and canopy over the
very site of the deadly attack. Unfortunately Alexander III did not possess the
strength of character to implement reforms, and Russia again stagnated.
 |
| Detail of massive golden door |
 |
| Interior one of the Onion Domes |
The church is quintessentially Russian Orthodox, with
characteristic onion domes rising above the church itself. There are five ‘onions’,
which have nothing to do with the vegetable but are supposed to be symbolic of
candle flames. There are always at least five domes, the highest depicting Christ,
and the four surrounding lower ones the four evangelists.
The interior is covered with mosaics. There are no prayer
benches or seating, as Orthodox services are held with the congregation
standing up – regardless of how many hours the service lasts.
 |
| Flip Flops... |
During earlier Bolshevik rule, where spirituality was a
no-no, the church served as storage for stage props. Then it went through a
period where it served as potato storage. During WWII much of it was bombed and
destroyed, however, present day efforts have restored it to former glory.
 |
| Staging Storage |
 |
| One of the many bombs lodged in the masonry |
 |
| The man who defused war bombs |
Mosaics have been lovingly re-created, floors are covered in marble,
chandeliers rise above the congregation, and gilding is everywhere. Alexander’s
monument backed by a piece of the original wrought iron fence where the crime occurred
is always adorned with flowers.
 |
| Original canal fence behind canopy, commemorating the spot where Alexander II was killed. |
Thousands of people wander through here every
day, some of Orthodox religion, who are recognizable by the fact that women
have their heads are covered up with kerchiefs.
