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.

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 Fabergé egg.  

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.

 

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. 

The Metro of St. Petersburg, Russia

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


On the way back to the ship from our day tour, we made a quick stop

to ride a few stops on the pristine St. Petersburg Metro.

The St. Petersburg underground opened in 1955 and is full of

elegant architecture and artwork... glass columns, intricate mosaics and chandeliers.

They are also some of the deepest lines and stations in the world.

The cars are much larger than what I'm used to here in London.

No advertising and everything was so clean. 
We even rode on an original wooden escalator.  You can only find one of these in London now.  

Have you been on a Russian subway?  I hear the system in Moscow is even more amazing. 

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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.  

The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia

This week I'm featuring *photo essays from our day in St. Petersburg with TJ Travel.
Our first stop is the Hermitage Museum.

As a child of the Enlightenment, Catherine the Great began collecting artwork in 1764.

Her collection has grown to be one of the oldest and largest museum collections in the world.

Only a portion of the over 3 million pieces are on permanent display at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.   The collections are housed in a series of buildings along the Palace Embankment, the most famous of them being the Winter Palace.

The Museum opens a little bit early for tour groups and because it was just the three of us, we were able to move quickly and easily through the massive tour groups that started arriving in droves.  The museum interior and architecture is just as interesting as the renowned collections.  It is definitely the most exquisite museum I've ever seen.  We spent just a few hours exploring and taking photographs.  You could return again and again and never see it all.

It's still so hard to imagine so many amazing creations in one place.

What is your favorite museum piece?

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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.