Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
CATHEDRAL OF CHRIST THE SAVIOUR
Dominating the skyline along the Prechistenskaya nab, the gargantuan
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was completed in 1997 - just in time to celeb-
rate Moscow's 850th birthday. It is amazingly opulent, garishly grandiose and
truly historic.
The cathedral's sheer size and splendour guarantee its role as a love-it-or-hate-it land-
mark. Considering Stalin's plan for this site (a Palace of Soviets topped with a 100m statue
of Lenin), Muscovites should at least be grateful they can admire the shiny domes of a
church instead of the shiny dome of Ilyich's head.
HANS NELEMAN / GETTY IMAGES ©
The cathedral sits on the site of an earlier and similar church of the same name, built in
the 19th century to commemorate Russia's victory over Napoleon. The original was des-
troyed in 1931, during Stalin's orgy of explosive secularism. His plan to replace the church
