This place
The Church of the Resurrection, also known as the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, was built in memory of Alexander II who was assassinated in 1881. The church stands on the very spot where the Emperor was wounded by a bomb thrown into his carriage.
Next morning his son Alexander III offered to build a chapel on the site of assassination. The Tsar insisted that it should be a church in the traditional Russian style, and the place of the attack had to be included into the church`s space. The cathedral looks like a traditional Russian church of the 17th century but with some specific details due to Tsar’s requirements. It has two side entrances instead of one entrance on the west because the western façade faces the canal.
Both inside and outside the cathedral is decorated by mosaics. The total area of mosaics is 7500 square meters. The décor of the walls was commissioned to a Private Workshop of Frolov brothers based in St. Petersburg, while the finest images of Saints were produced in the Academy of Fine Arts. The Italian company Novi was trusted to work with marble on the walls and floor.
Interesting fact: Tsar Alexander II reigned for 26 years, the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood took 26 years to be constructed and 26 years to be restored that has become first strange coincidence. Some people also joked that as soon as the scaffolding outside were removed, the Soviet Regime would fall. And they were right. The reconstruction finished in 1991 when the USSR collapsed.
This day in the History of St.Petersburg
On February 2, 1905 the papers reported an accident that took place on the Egyptian bridge:
“Today at one o’clock in the afternoon, when the Horse-Grenadier Guards regiment was crossing the Egyptian chain bridge across the Fontanka river, the bridge collapsed. The officers who marched first managed to reach the bank, while the lower ranks, in the number of two platoons, fell into the water together with the horses. Five passenger cabs that happened to be on the bridge also fell into the water. The bridge, along with the railings and fasteners broke the ice and ended up at the bottom of the river. By 2 pm, people and horses were pulled out of the water. The injured people were sent to the nearest infirmary. There were no serious casualties”.
The cause of the crash was the resonance created by the soldiers walking in step. Since then, in Russia, it has been officially forbidden for soldiers to march in cadence when crossing a bridge.
