Щукина Алёна_ЯЛНбд-09-20_Санкт-Петербург Храм Спаса-на-Крови

“Hello, i am a student of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is a Russian Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg, Russia which currently functions as a secular museum and church at the same time. The church took 24 years to build. It is believed that its consecration was delayed due to the complexity of the mosaics by hereditary mosaicist Vladimir Frolov, which he spent ten years perfecting. The luxurious mosaics cover around 7,065 square meters, making it one of the largest mosaic exhibitions in Europe. The work was carried out by the finest artists in the Russian Empire: Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov, Vasily Belyaev, and many others. In the 1930s-40s, the Bolsheviks destroyed many churches and had their sights set on the Savior on Spilled Blood, too. But WW2 intervened. During the siege of Leningrad (the former name of St Petersburg), it was converted into a morgue where bodies found on the city streets were brought. In the late 1960s, the church was recognized as an architectural monument. It was restored over a period 27 years (three years longer than it took to build), and was reopened in 1997. Now, the Savior on Spilled Blood works mainly as a museum. On weekdays, tourists come here to view the mosaics and the section of pavement enshrined inside the building where the wounded tsar fell. Services are held here, but only on weekends and church holidays.“