The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is a cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church located in the central part of Moscow on Volkhonka Street. The existing building, built in the 1990s, is a recreation of the temple of the same name, destroyed in 1931. It is the largest Orthodox Church in Russia.
On September 10 (22) of 1839, a solemn ceremony of laying of the Cathedral on Volkhonka Street took place. The construction was started actually two years before and was completed in 1860; afterwards, the interior decoration was created; and on May 26 (June 7) of 1883, the first church was consecrated.
The building of the temple was destroyed on December 5 of 1931 as a result of Stalin's reconstruction of Moscow. The site was planned to be given for the construction of the Palace of Soviets, but eventually, the Moskva swimming pool was made in this place.
The design of the new temple was made by architects M. Posokhin and A. Denisov. Soon afterwards, A. Denisov withdrew from the project, and his place was taken by Z. Tsereteli, who completed the construction. The sculptor changed the original design, approved by the Moscow authorities, and introduced new details into the exterior design of the temple.
The new Cathedral of Christ the Savior was reconstructed by 1999 as a conventional external copy of its historical predecessor: the building became a two-level structure, with the Church of the Transfiguration in the basement. On December 31 of 1999, the upper temple was opened to the public. On the night of January 6th to 7th of 2000, the first solemn Christmas liturgy was served. On August 19 of the same year, there was a great consecration of the temple by the participants of the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The postage stamp provides an image of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the ornamental design.
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114 × 162 mm |