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Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

1883 establishments in the Russian Empire19th-century Russian Orthodox church buildings20th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildingsBuildings and structures demolished in 1931Byzantine Revival architecture in Russia
Cathedrals in MoscowChurch buildings with domesChurches completed in 1883Churches completed in 2000Cultural heritage monuments in MoscowDemolished churches in the Soviet UnionRebuilt churches in RussiaRussian Orthodox cathedrals in RussiaRussian Revival architectureWorld Heritage Tentative List
Moscow July 2011 7a
Moscow July 2011 7a

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, tr. Khram Khristá Spasítelya, IPA: [xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə]) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few hundred metres southwest of the Kremlin. With an overall height of 103 metres (338 ft), it is the third tallest Orthodox Christian church building in the world, after the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania and Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The current church is the second to stand on this site. The original church, built during the 19th century, took more than 40 years to build, and was the scene of the 1882 world premiere of the 1812 Overture composed by Tchaikovsky. It was destroyed in 1931 on the order of the Soviet Politburo. The demolition was supposed to make way for a colossal Palace of the Soviets to house the country's legislature, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Construction started in 1937 but was halted in 1941 when Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II. Its steel frame was disassembled the following year, and the palace was never built. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the current church was rebuilt on the site between 1995 and 2000.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
Volkhonka Street, Moscow Khamovniki District

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N 55.744444444444 ° E 37.605555555556 °
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Храм Христа Спасителя

Volkhonka Street 15
119019 Moscow, Khamovniki District
Moscow, Russia
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Moscow July 2011 7a
Moscow July 2011 7a
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Palace of the Soviets
Palace of the Soviets

The Palace of the Soviets (Russian: Дворец Советов, Dvorets Sovetov) was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the palace was to house sessions of the Supreme Soviet in its 130-metre (430 ft) wide and 100-metre (330 ft) tall grand hall seating over 20,000 people. If built, the 416-metre (1,365 ft) tall palace would have become the world's tallest structure, with an internal volume surpassing the combined volumes of the six tallest American skyscrapers.Boris Iofan won a series of four architectural competitions held in 1931–1933 marking the beginning of a sharp turn of Soviet architecture from 1920s modernism to the monumental historicism of Stalinist architecture. The individuals behind these events and their motives remain a matter of conjecture and debate. Recent research supports the hypothesis that Iofan had been the chosen architect from the very start and manipulated the competitions to his own benefit. The definitive design by Iofan, Vladimir Shchuko and Vladimir Helfreich was conceived in 1933–1934 and took its final shape in 1937. The staggered stack of ribbed cylinders crowned with a 100-metre (330 ft) statue of Vladimir Lenin blended Art Deco and neoclassical influences with contemporary American skyscraper technology. Work on the site commenced in 1933; the foundation was completed in January 1939. The German invasion in June 1941 ended the project. Engineers and workers were diverted to defense projects or pressed in the army; the installed structural steel was disassembled in 1942 for fortifications and bridges. After World War II, Joseph Stalin lost interest in the palace. Iofan produced several revised, scaled-down designs but failed to reanimate the project. The alternative Palace of the Soviets in Sparrow Hills, which was proposed after Stalin's death, did not proceed beyond the architectural competition stage.

Kropotkinskaya
Kropotkinskaya

Kropotkinskaya (Russian: Кропо́ткинская, IPA: [krɐˈpotkʲɪnskəjə]) is a station on the Sokolnicheskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. One of the oldest Metro stations, it was designed by Alexey Dushkin and Ya. Likhtenberg and opened in 1935 as part of the original Metro line, named after Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin. The station was originally planned to serve the enormous Palace of the Soviets (Dvorets Sovetov), which was to rise nearby on the former site of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Kropotkinskaya was therefore designed to be the largest and grandest station on the first line. However, the Palace project was cancelled by Nikita Khrushchev in 1953, leaving the Metro station as the only part of the complex that was actually built. Kropotkinskaya was constructed in a massive open trench measuring 176 metres (577 ft) long by 25 metres (82 ft) wide. The tunnels from Biblioteka Imeni Lenina were constructed using the cut and cover technique. The combination of unrestricted space and dry soil made for ideal conditions, and construction of the station took only 180 days from start to finish. Kropotkinskaya was completed in January 1935 and opened five months later, on 15 May 1935. The station was named Dvorets Sovetov until 1957, when it was renamed in honour of Peter Kropotkin, a geographer, philosopher, and anarchist theoretician born in the vicinity. Since it was to serve as the gateway to the Palace of Soviets, great care was taken to make Kropotkinskaya suitably elegant and impressive. The station has flared columns faced with white marble which are said to have been inspired by the Temple of Amun at Karnak. Contrary to popular opinion, the marble used in the station did not come from the demolished Cathedral. The spacious platform is covered with squares of gray and red granite and the walls, originally tiled, are now faced with white Koyelga marble. The station is illuminated by concealed lamps set into the tops of the columns. A model of the station won two Grand Prix awards at expositions in Paris (1937) and Brussels (1958). In 1941 the designers and engineers were also awarded the Stalin prize of the USSR for architecture and construction. Kropotkinskaya opened with only one entrance vestibule, located at the end of Gogolevskiy Boulevard. This U-shaped structure was designed by S.M. Kravets and features two separate pavilions joined by a central arch. In late 1950s the station was given a slight reconstruction replacing the original cast of the upper pillars was replaced by marble and the floor was relayed with granite. The reconstruction finished with a new entrance which faces the Cathedral and Moskva River which was opened on 16 July 1960. Because of the demise of the Palace of Soviets project, much of Kropotkinskaya's planned ridership never materialized. As of 2013 the station serves about 42,050 passengers daily, many of them tourists visiting the newly rebuilt Cathedral or the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. By 2020, a transfer to the Kalininskaya Line is planned to open. The future station will be called Volkhonka.