Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood

 This week I'm featuring *photo essays from our day in St. Petersburg with TJ Travel.

As we were touring St. Petersburg in the morning, our guide pointed off into the distance and I caught my first glimpse of the onion domes of the Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood.
I had one of those travel moments that I live for, a deep intake of breath,
tears stinging my eyes and a dream suddenly becoming a reality.

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

The Russian Orthodox church was completed in 1907 and is dedicated to Tsar Alexander II who was assassinated along the canal at this site in 1881.
Inside there is a shrine and you can see the actual cobbles where his blood was spilled.

The outside is fantastic but when I walked inside I was completely speechless.
Soaring domed ceilings and every inch covered is the most beautiful glittering mosaics,
over 7,500 square meters of mosaics. 
This must be what it feels like to be inside an intricately bejeweled FabergĂ© egg.  


Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia


Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

The Soviets closed the church in the 30's and it was used for food storage.
The damage from the revolution and the soviet era was extensive.
It was once earmarked for demolition and even used as a temporary morgue.
An artillery shell was dropped onto the main dome but luckily didn't explode.
 After extensive restoration the church reopened in 1997.

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia
 
Church of the Spilled Blood, St. Peterburg, Russia

It is one of the most magical and beautiful structures I've ever seen.
I still can't believe that I was able to experience this place.
I could not stop taking pictures.  They had to drag me to the next site. 

Where is the most beautiful church you've ever visited?




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 *I hope you don't consider my "photo essays" as a cover for lazy blogging.  We saw so much during those 15 hours in St. Petersburg and I really want to share it with you. 

17 comments:

  1. I've been waiting for this post! My favourite building in St. Pete. I also love St. Basil's in Moscow. My favourite Moscow church has to be the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. I love the story behind it, and that it's actually a replica of a building that was destroyed not so long ago.


    I've been so in love with your posts this week. Your pictures are just fabulous! Yesterday I spent far too long looking at my own photos from my time in Russia.

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  2. So incredible. Walking through places like this just make me in awe of what we can build... so intricate!

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  3. Wow, this looks incredible! I think just seeing the outside would have kept me staring for hours! My favorite church, so far has been Sagrada Familia in Barcelona :)

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  4. the photos are stunning! i can only imagine how lovely the church itself is.

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  5. such gorgeous photos. and no, photo essays aren't lazy! sometimes they take even more work! XOXO

    welltraveledwife.com

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  6. Such amazing pictures! That blue sky is to die for!! I have yet to visit Barcelona but at this time, the most spectacular cathedral I've seen is St Vitus' in Prague... when we walked up, the church bells were chiming and it made our visit a special one :)

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  7. Oh wow! Look at this place! There's just so much going on - it's a bit overwhelming! How could you ever get any worshipping done with so many distractions on the walls? ;o) I do love all the bright, bold colors though!

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  8. I must have looked like a zombie. lol Mouth agape and staring at the ceiling. It was so amazing.

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  9. I can't wait to get to Barcelona! Hopefully, next year. The list is so long, but I'm going to try hard to get through it.

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  10. I so need to get to Barcelona. Someone else mentioned that one as a favorite.

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  11. I still can't get over how much work those mosaics must have taken.

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  12. Thanks so much, Amy. I'm so glad it's bringing back great memories. I'm going to have to search your blog for some Russia posts.

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  13. Yes! I remember seeing mosaics in Cyprus, like ancient Roman ones, and I thought the same thing. Imagine the labor involved to create these!

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  14. Sadly, I didn't start blogging until we'd been gone from Russia for over 6 months, but I do have a couple of travel tuesday posts which are Moscow focused. I think I need to do some retrospective posts at some point.

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