The Cathedral of Our Christ the Savior is the largest Russian Orthodox Church in the country,
which can accommodate up to 10000 people at the same time.
It is located not far from the Kremlin on the left bank of the Moskva-river.
The present building was erected in the 1990's on the site of the former cathedral, constructed in the 19th century.
After the war against Napoleon according to the manifest of the Emperor Alexander I the construction of
the cathedral was started by the architect Vitberg.
At first the cathedral was supposed to be built on the Sparrow Hills,
but later the emperor Nicholas I, younger brother of Alexander I
changed the place and commissioned a new architect K. Ton to complete the construction.
The funds were coming from all over the country.
On the walls of the cathedral there were carved names of the officers of the Russian army, who died during
the war against Napoleon in 1812. The construction of the cathedral lasted for 44 years and the church was consecrated
only in May of 1883, after Alexander III had been crowned.
The cathedral was destroyed in December of 1931 with the help of three explosions.
It was planned to build the Palace of Congresses on
the site of the cathedral, but because of the WWII it was delayed. After the war the place was empty till 1958. At the
end of the 1950's the local authorities decided to create a swimming pool there, which had existed till the 1990's.
In 1992 the fund for reconstruction of the Cathedral was established and the works were started in 1994. The church was
opened to the public in 2000. The first service took place on Christamas Eve, on January 6th (Russsian Orthodox Christmas).
The cathedral was officially consecrated in August of 2000.
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