The Holy Place: Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow

Product Description

The Holy Place: Architecture, Ideology, and History in Russia. K. Akinsha, G. Kozlov & S. Hochfield. CT (New Haven): Yale University Press, 2007. 60 illustrations. Hardcover, 224 pages.  

The authors examine the extraordinary two-century construction, destruction, and finally, reconstruction of The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Begun under Tsar Alexander I in around 1817, after Napoleon was driven away from Moscow, it was to become the largest cathedral (and the largest building) in the world. Alexander's son, Nicholas I, changed both the site and the scope of the project. It was finally completed by his son, Alexander III, only to be demolished by Stalin in the 1930s to make way for what would have been the next tallest building in the world, aptly named the Palace of The Soviets, but that project was scrapped due to the war. Under Khrushchev, the excavation pit was transformed into an outdoor heated swimming pool (the world's largest, of course) and under Yeltsin's direction the pool was replaced by a reconstruction of the destroyed cathedral. The book explores each project and visually documents the grand projects, those that were built and those only dreamt. "It is a book that every traveler to Russia will read with pleasure, both a page-turner and an eye-opener."-Wendy Salmon.