Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow is the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church not far from the Kremlin on the left bank of the Moscow River, in a place formerly called Chertolye. The existing structure is an external recreation of the temple of the same name, created in the 19th century, carried out in the 1990s. On the walls of the temple were inscribed the names of officers of the Russian army who died in the War of 1812 and other military campaigns close in time.
The original of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow was erected in gratitude to God for saving Russia from the Napoleonic invasion: “to preserve the eternal memory of that unparalleled zeal, loyalty and love for the Faith and the Fatherland, with which the Russian people exalted themselves in these difficult times, and in commemoration of Our gratitude to the Providence of God, which saved Russia from the destruction that threatened it.”
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built according to the design of the architect Konstantin Ton. Construction lasted almost 44 years: the temple was founded on September 23, 1839, consecrated on May 26, 1883.
On December 5, 1931, the temple building was destroyed. It was rebuilt on the same site in 1999.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow is the largest in the Russian Church. Designed for 10,000 people.
In plan, the cathedral was an equal-ended cross about 85 m wide.
The outer part was decorated with a double row of marble high reliefs by sculptors Klodt, Loginovsky and Ramazanov. All entrance doors- twelve in total - were made of bronze, and the images of saints decorating them were cast according to the sketches of the famous sculptor Count F. P. Tolstoy.
The height of the temple with the dome and cross is currently 105 m (3.5 m higher than St. Isaac's Cathedral). Built in the traditions of the so-called Russian-Byzantine style, which enjoyed broad government support at the time construction began. The painting inside the temple occupies about 22,000 sq.m., of which about 9,000 sq.m. are gilded.
The modern complex of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior includes: - the “upper temple” - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior itself. It has 3 altars - the main one in honor of the Nativity of Christ and 2 side altars in the choir - in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (southern) and St. Prince Alexander Nevsky (northern). Consecrated on August 6 (19), 2000.
- “lower temple” - Church of the Transfiguration, built in memory of the Alekseevsky women’s monastery located on this site. It has three altars: the main one - in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord and two small chapels - in honor of Alexy the man of God and the Tikhvin icon Mother of God. The church was consecrated on August 6 (19), 1996.
Mosaic on the pedestal of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 
Ceiling painting. Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the complex of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 
On December 25, 1812, when the last Napoleonic soldiers left Russia, Emperor Alexander I signed the Highest Manifesto on the construction of a church in Moscow, which at that time lay in ruins.
After the victory over Napoleon in 1814, the project was refined: it was decided to build a cathedral in the name of Christ the Savior within 10-12 years.
Project by A. Vitberg
Also in 1814, an international open competition was held with the participation of such respected architects as Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Stasov and others. However, to the surprise of many, the project of 28-year-old Karl Magnus Witberg, an artist (not even an architect), freemason and and a Lutheran at that. The project, according to contemporaries, was truly exceptionally beautiful. Compared to the current one, the Witberg temple was three times larger, it included the Pantheon of the dead, a colonnade (600 columns) of captured cannons, as well as monuments to monarchs and prominent commanders. In order to approve the project, Vitberg was baptized into Orthodoxy. It was decided to place the structure on Vorobyovy Gory. Huge funds were allocated for construction: 16 million rubles from the treasury and considerable public donations.
On October 12, 1817, on the 5th anniversary of the French departure from Moscow, in the presence of Tsar Alexander I, the first temple designed by Vitberg was founded on the Sparrow Hills.
Upon the accession of Nicholas I to the throne in 1825, construction had to be stopped, according to the official version, due to insufficient reliability of the soil; Witberg and the construction managers were accused of embezzlement and put on trial.
There was no new competition, and in 1831 Nicholas I personally appointed Konstantin Ton as the architect, whose “Russian-Byzantine” style was close to the tastes of the new emperor. A new place on Chertolye (Volkhonka) was also chosen by Nicholas I himself; the buildings that were there were purchased and demolished. Alekseevsky, located there, was also demolished convent, a monument of the 17th century (transferred to Krasnoye Selo). Moscow rumor has preserved the legend that the abbess of the Alekseevsky monastery, dissatisfied with this turn, cursed the place and predicted that nothing would stand on it for long.
Vasily Nesterenko - Epiphany. Painting of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. 
Vasily Nesterenko - The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
The second temple, unlike the first, was built almost entirely at public expense.
Vasily Nesterenko - Miracle in Cana of Galilee - Patriarchal refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 
Vasily Nesterenko - The miraculous multiplication of the loaves - Patriarchal refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The ceremonial laying of the cathedral took place on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino - in August 1837. However, active construction began only on September 10, 1839 and lasted almost 44 years; the total cost of the Temple extended to 15 million rubles. The vault of the large dome was completed in 1849; in 1860 the outer scaffolding was dismantled. Work on the interior decoration continued for another 20 years; The famous masters V. I. Surikov, I. N. Kramskoy, V. P. Vereshchagin and other famous artists of the Imperial Academy of Arts worked on the painting.
Vasily Nesterenko - Last Supper - Patriarchal refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 
Vasily Nesterenko - A wonderful catch - Patriarchal refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
On May 26 (June 7), 1883, the solemn consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow took place, performed by Metropolitan Ioannikiy (Rudnev) of Moscow with a host of clergy and in the presence of Emperor Alexander III, who had been crowned in the Moscow Kremlin shortly before.
Vasily Nesterenko - Christ and the Samaritan Woman Patriarchal refectory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
December 5, 1931 temple-monument military glory was destroyed by an explosion. On June 2, 1931, an order was given to demolish the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for the construction of the Palace of Soviets in its place.
Vasily Nesterenko - "The Resurrection of Christ" and "Apostle Matthew"
Hurried work to dismantle the building continued for several months, but it was not possible to dismantle it to the ground, and then it was decided to blow it up. There were two explosions - after the first explosion the temple stood. Not all contemporaries equally admired the architecture of the huge temple, but Muscovites, who respected their history, saw in it a symbol of the glorious victories of the past and the memory of the dead. According to the recollections of shocked witnesses, powerful explosions shook not only nearby buildings, but were felt several blocks away. It took almost a year and a half just to dismantle the ruins of the temple left after the explosion.
Nikolai Mukhin - Nativity of Christ. Altar painting of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The construction of the Palace of Soviets, which began in 1937, was not destined to be completed - the Great Patriotic War began, and anti-tank hedgehogs were made from the metal structures prepared for installation for the defense of Moscow, and soon, having barely risen from the foundation level, the building had to be completely dismantled.
Fragments of the first Cathedral of Christ the Savior, preserved in the Donskoy Monastery.
Painting inside the temple.
Nikolai Mukhin - Fragments of the painting of four compositions “Miracle-working and revealed icons of the Mother of God with the Forthcoming” (choirs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior). 1999 
Nikolai Mukhin - Fragments of the painting of four compositions “Miracle-working and revealed icons of the Mother of God with the Forthcoming” (choirs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior). 1999 
Nikolai Mukhin - Fragments of the painting of four compositions “Miracle-working and revealed icons of the Mother of God with the Forthcoming” (choirs of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior). 1999
Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Artist Vasily Nesterenko.
F. A. Klages. Internal view Cathedral of Christ the Savior (1883)
In every big city There are bound to be buildings that stand out from others because of their bumpy and contradictory history. In Moscow, one of these buildings was the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, built with difficulty in Tsarist Russia, blown up under Soviet rule and rebuilt again after its fall.
Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior was erected as a symbolic cenotaph to the soldiers of the Russian Imperial Army who died in the war with Napoleonic France. The building is made in the pseudo-Russian "Russian-Byzantine" style according to the design of the architect Konstantin Ton.
For the first time, the idea of building a votive temple as a sign of thanksgiving for the victory and in eternal memory of the soldiers who died in the war with France was expressed in December 1812 by General Pyotr Kikin in a letter to Admiral Alexander Shishkov. Emperor Alexander I supported the idea, and on December 25, 1812, when the last French soldiers abandoned the borders of Russia, the Highest Manifesto on the construction of a church in Moscow was issued.
The first project of the temple (Karl Witberg) on Vorobyovy Gory
In 1814, 2 years after the Highest Manifesto, the design assignment for the construction of the temple was approved: it was planned to build a cathedral in the name of Christ the Savior within 10-12 years.
An open space was declared for the construction of the cathedral. international competition, in which Andrei Voronikhin, Giacomo Quarenghi (Gwarenghi), Vasily Stasov and other eminent architects from Russia and foreign countries took part, but the 28-year-old artist of Swedish origin Carl Witberg won. After a century, the result of the competition may seem strange: in addition to the fact that Witberg simply was not an architect, he was not even Orthodox - the artist professed Lutheranism (he later converted to Orthodoxy in order to approve the project) and was a member of the Masonic lodge; however, the emperor liked his project:
Witberg's project was truly majestic: compared to the existing one, it was 3 times larger (height - 240 meters), it included a colonnade of captured cannons (600 columns), the Pantheon of the dead, as well as monuments to monarchs and outstanding commanders. They planned to build the temple on Vorobyovy Gory.
The temple was founded on October 12, 1817, on the 5th anniversary of the French withdrawal from Moscow. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in the presence of Emperor Alexander I on an incredible scale: the opening was attended by almost all residents of Moscow - about 400,000 people.
For the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on Sparrow Hills, 16,000,000 rubles were allocated from the state treasury, as well as significant amounts from private donations. Construction began energetically: about 20,000 serfs were involved in the construction of the temple, however, the process soon stalled. Vitberg, appointed construction director, had no management experience, which is why he was overly trusting of contractors and did not exercise proper control over construction. The money literally went nowhere, and for 7 years not even the zero construction cycle was completed (in fact, preparations for it were still underway).
In 1825, Emperor Alexander I dies, and Nicholas I ascends the throne instead. Construction of the temple is stopped - according to the official version, due to the insufficient reliability of the soil of the Sparrow Hills - after which Karl Witberg and the construction leaders are put on trial for abuse of the emperor's trust and damage to the treasury. During the trial that dragged on until 1835, the commission revealed more than a million rubles of theft and embezzlement, the accused were fined, and Vitberg himself, having confiscated all his property, was exiled to Vyatka. It is interesting that today historians do not agree on the artist’s guilt: many believe that Vitberg, who did not have sufficient experience, simply did not keep track of the construction, which led to ineffective spending.
The second temple project (Konstantin Ton), implemented
In 1831, Moscow returned to the issue of building the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. They did not hold a new competition: Emperor Nicholas II liked the “Russian-Byzantine” style of temple architecture developed by Konstantin Ton, and by his personal order, Thon was appointed architect of the temple. With a new architect, a new construction site was also chosen: it was decided to build the temple not far from the Kremlin, on Chertolye. The block located on the territory was purchased and demolished, including the Alekseevsky Convent, whose abbess, according to Moscow legend, cursed the place and predicted that nothing would stand on it for long.
In August 1837, on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the temple was founded, but active construction began only in September 1839 and continued for another 44 years, including interior decoration and painting: the total cost of the work was about 15,000,000 rubles.
The temple was consecrated on June 7, 1883. The ceremony was performed by Metropolitan Ioannikis (Rudnev) of Moscow. The ceremony was attended by the next emperor in the history of the construction of the temple - Alexander III, who ascended the throne shortly before the completion of the work, as well as members of the imperial family, clergy and Moscow nobility.
Soviet years
In 1918, the growing Soviet government, by a special decree, canceled the funding of churches, and the costs of maintaining and repairing the temple fell on the shoulders of private donors.
On July 13, 1931, a meeting of the USSR Central Executive Committee was held under the chairmanship of the “All-Russian elder” Mikhail Kalinin, at which a decision was made to demolish the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and erect the Palace of Soviets in its place. Work to dismantle the temple continued for several months, after which they decided to blow it up, and on December 5, 1931, the building was destroyed in two explosions - after the first, the temple stood. The building debris and construction debris remaining after the explosion took a year and a half to clear.
In 1937, construction of the Palace of the Soviets began on the site of the temple, but construction was never completed due to the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. In 1956, the idea of constructing the Palace of Soviets was abandoned, and in 1960, an outdoor swimming pool "Moscow" was installed on the site of the cathedral, which existed until 1994.
Modern Cathedral of Christ the Savior
In 1988, when Moscow was still Soviet, an initiative group for the restoration of the temple was organized in the city, which in 1989 grew into an Orthodox community. The community held a “people's referendum”, during which thousands of Soviet citizens supported the idea of restoring the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
On December 5, 1990, a foundation stone was installed at the site of future construction; in 1992, a fund for the construction of the temple was opened, and construction began in 1994.
The project to recreate the temple was developed by architects Mikhail Posokhin and Alexei Denisov, however, later Denisov moved away from work, giving way to Zurab Tsereteli. Under Tsereteli, who completed the construction of the temple, a number of deviations from the original project were made: for example, instead of the original marble high reliefs, bronze ones appeared on the facade, and instead of the originally planned white stone cladding, the building received marble, which is why the color scheme of the facade changed from warm to cooler, and the historical project was violated. However, by 1999, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was erected as a conditional external copy of the destroyed original.
On December 31, 1999, the temple was open to the public, and on the night of January 6-7, 2000, the first solemn Christmas liturgy was served there.
During its so far short history, the “new” Cathedral of Christ the Savior has more than once become the epicenter of high-profile scandals: activists from various movements have repeatedly accused the temple of the excessive presence of business on its territory (someone even sarcastically called it a business center) and put forward other claims, but the most loud scandal occurred on February 21, 2012. Then the participants group "Pussy Riot" an event was held in the temple, designated as punk prayer "Mother of God, drive Putin away!": the girls tried to perform a song in front of the entrance to the temple altar, which caused a wide public outcry. Later, the court recognized their actions as hooliganism.
However, with its bumpy and controversial history Cathedral of Christ the Savior is one of the iconic landmarks of Moscow. In 2004, opposite the temple was opened : The pedestrian bridge that connects the Prechistenskaya, Bersenevskaya and Yakimanskaya embankments starts directly from the stylobate of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and perfectly complements it in terms of tourism - the bridge offers excellent views of the historical center of the city and the embankments of the Moscow River.
You can get to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (Volkhonka Street, 15) from metro station "Kropotkinskaya" Sokolnicheskaya line.
Exactly 80 years ago - on December 5, 1931 - an explosion occurred in Moscow, destroying one of the most iconic and beautiful buildings in the capital - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On this day, the capital lost for more than six decades one of its main attractions, which, along with the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral and Alexander Garden, occupied a very special place in the history of Moscow.
Shalaev Alexey. Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 2005
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is a building whose history is truly unique, filled with dramatic events and is important and significant page chronicles of the capital itself.
In general, the history of the main Orthodox church in Russia can be divided into three stages: construction (mid-19th century), destruction (from 1931 to 1994) and restoration (since 1994).
Construction of the Temple
The idea of building a large temple on the territory of Moscow arose from Emperor Alexander the First immediately after the last soldier of the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte left Russia in 1812.
Celebrating the victory in the war by erecting churches and cathedrals has always been customary in our country. For example, Yaroslav the Wise built Sophia of Kyiv immediately after the victory over the Pechenegs, many cathedrals were built after the victory over the hordes of Mamai on the Kulikovo field, the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat (now known as St. Basil's Cathedral) was built by Ivan the Terrible in honor of the victory over the Kazan Khanate, and the cathedral in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God recalls the expulsion of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders from Moscow in the 17th century.
St. Basil's Cathedral
Therefore, signing the manifesto on December 25, 1812, which said: “In order to preserve the eternal memory of that unparalleled zeal, fidelity and love for the Faith and for the Fatherland, with which the Russian people exalted themselves in these difficult times, and in commemoration of Our gratitude to the Providence of God , who saved Russia from the destruction that threatened it, We set out to create a church in the name of the Savior Christ in Our Mother See of Moscow, a detailed decree about which will be announced in due time,” Alexander the First continued the ancient traditions of Russian autocrats.
However, before the emperor’s idea became a reality, many more years passed and the construction of the Temple had to be completed by Alexander the First’s brother, Nicholas the First, then by his son Alexander the Second, and the consecration of the cathedral took place only under the grandson of the victor of Napoleon, Alexander the Third.
The initial project for the construction of the Temple was approved in 1814, and the first stone of the cathedral was laid in 1817. It is interesting that the following people took part in the first competition for the cathedral project: famous architects of that era, such as D. Quarenghi, A. Melnikov, A. Voronikhin, A. Vitberg, V. Stasov. And the sovereign, from more than 20 options, chose the project of an unknown, 28-year-old Karl Magnus Witberg, who was not even an architect, but worked as an artist, was a Freemason and, moreover, a Lutheran. For the sake of winning the competition, Vitberg converted to Orthodoxy, and his original project differed significantly from the final version of the construction.
The young artist designed a large-scale structure, the triplicity of which was supposed to symbolize the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It was assumed that the Temple would have an underground part in the form of a parallelepiped, a ground cruciform part and a round upper part. It was also planned to perpetuate the names of all the soldiers who died in the Patriotic War of 1812, to install two triumphal columns, the material for the creation of which was to be melted down cannons of the French army. The temple was supposed to be the tallest building in the world at that time - the height of the cathedral, according to Witberg's project, was supposed to be 237 meters, the ground part was planned to be surrounded by colonnades, the length of each of which was supposed to be 604 meters.
By the way, the Sparrow Hills were chosen as the construction site; according to Alexander the First, “the crown of Moscow,” the only place where, according to Vitberg’s idea, such a colossal structure could be placed.
The Emperor was extremely pleased with the artist’s project; more than 16 million rubles were allocated from the state treasury for construction; in addition, huge funds were collected in the form of donations.
The construction of the Temple on the Sparrow Hills began on October 12, 1817, on the fifth anniversary of the departure of the French army from Moscow. The ceremony of laying the first stone was held in the presence of the king, in a very solemn atmosphere and ended with a religious procession. For the first few years, construction proceeded at a rapid pace, with up to 20 thousand serfs working at the construction site at the same time.
However, Alexander the First still made a mistake by entrusting Karl Magnus Witberg to manage the construction - the artist was an honest person, but too inexperienced and trusting, and the funds allocated from the treasury began to simply be stolen by the contractors.
Within 7 years, it was not possible to complete even the first part of the construction; problems with soil subsidence began - Vorobyovy Gory turned out to be a beautiful place, but too unreliable. As a result, after the death of Alexander the First, his brother, the new Emperor Nicholas II, was forced to stop construction altogether, and Vitberg was put on trial for embezzling government funds.
A commission specially created by Nicholas the First, which included famous Moscow engineers and specialists in earthworks, recognized that the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior according to Vitberg’s design on the slopes of the Sparrow Hills was impossible to complete. Engineers warned that numerous keys and sandy soils could lead to foundation settlements and such a large building could eventually collapse.
View of the Sparrow Hills from Luzhnetskaya Embankment
The Emperor listened to the unanimous opinion of experts and a second competition was announced for a new Temple project, and the Alekseevsky Monastery was chosen as the site for its new construction. Architects K. Ton, A. Tatishchev, F. Shestakov, A. Kutepov, I. Tamansky took part in the second competition of projects for the construction of the cathedral. The winner was Konstantin Ton.
It is impossible not to mention that the project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for Karl Magnus Witberg became both the main triumph in life and the main tragedy - the court found him guilty of embezzlement and sent him to Vyatka, under police supervision. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1840, the architect learned that his project was finally rejected and construction of the cathedral began according to a new plan and in a different place. After such disappointment, Witberg still built Orthodox churches in Tiflis and Perm, but died in obscurity and poverty.
It is interesting that, according to Vitberg’s project, the names of all soldiers who died in the War of 1812 were to be immortalized in the Temple, while Thon’s project provided for mentioning only the names of officers who distinguished themselves in military operations.
By the way, the site for the new construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was personally chosen by Emperor Nicholas I - on the banks of the Moscow River, not far from the Kremlin. In 1837, the sovereign established a special Commission on the construction of a new Temple. The Alekseevsky Monastery and the Church of All Saints, located at the place chosen by the emperor, were destroyed, and the monastery itself was transferred to Sokolniki.
A rather gloomy legend is associated with the destruction of the Alekseevsky Monastery, a monument of the 17th century: one of the nuns predicted that the new Temple, built on the ruins of the monastery, would not stand for 50 years. Looking ahead, it can be noted that the prophecy came true - 48 years after its consecration, the Temple was blown up.
Reproduction of the painting “Alekseevsky Monastery at the Prechistensky Gate” by an unknown artist
The ceremonial laying of the first stone of the new building took place in August 1839, on the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the laying stone was transported from the Sparrow Hills, a gilded tablet was installed on it with the names of all members of the commission, Metropolitan Philaret and the emperor and the grand dukes were present at the ceremony. Active construction began on September 10, 1839, this time almost all funds were allocated only from the treasury, the amounts of donations were not at all as large as at the start of the first construction.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior took 44 years to build and cost the state over 15 million rubles. The construction of the large dome was completed in 1849, and the scaffolding around the building was removed only in 1860. For more than 20 years, work continued on the interior decoration of the Temple: such famous artists as V. I. Surikov, V. P. Vereshchagin, I. N. Kramskoy and other artists from the Imperial Academy of Arts worked on the painting. The decoration of the external walls of the temple with high relief sculptures of saints was entrusted to such famous sculptors as A. A. Ivanov, A. V. Loganovsky and N. A. Romazanov.
In 1880, the temple received the official name - Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a staff of clergy and clergy was formed, and an estimate for the maintenance of the cathedral was approved, which amounted to 66,850 rubles annually. By 1881, work on the construction of the embankment and the square around the Temple was completely completed, and the installation of external lanterns was completed.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior in 1881
On May 26, the Day of the Ascension of the Lord, in 1883, a solemn ceremony of consecration of the Temple took place, which was attended by Emperor Alexander III and his family. The consecration was conducted by Metropolitan Ioannikis of Moscow, the entire top of the Russian clergy was present, a solemn procession and festive fireworks took place. By the way, on the same day, in the Kremlin, the coronation took place. All-Russian Throne Emperor Alexander III.
Interior of the Temple, late 19th century
On June 12 of the same year, the ceremony of consecrating the chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker took place, and on July 8, 1883, the second chapel of the cathedral was consecrated in the name of St. Alexander Nevsky. From that time on, regular services began in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The temple immediately became an important center of religious and cultural life throughout the country: it was in this cathedral that Tchaikovsky’s “Overture of 1812”, which was written by the composer to commemorate the victory of Russia in the Patriotic War with Napoleon, was first performed; the choir of the Temple, organized in 1901, was considered the best in country, the voices of Konstantin Rozov and Fyodor Chaliapin sounded in it.
The cathedral housed a rich library, regularly held excursions and hosted such significant events for the country as the 500th anniversary of the death of Sergius of Radonezh, the 100th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov was celebrated in 1913, The opening of monuments to Alexander the Third and Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol took place.
And the main patronal holiday of the cathedral - the Nativity of Christ - was celebrated by Orthodox Moscow before the 1917 revolution as the most important holiday of Victory in the War of 1812.
Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 1909
It was in the Temple, in the alarming year of 1917, that the Local Assembly took place, at which the Patriarch of Russia was elected for the first time in the last 200 years - His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon, who is now canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Cathedral interior, 1902
Since 1902, general education courses for workers have been running in the Temple; during the First World War, donations were collected in the cathedral for Russian soldiers, refugees and the wounded.
In 1918, state support for the Temple completely ceased, and subsequently it existed only at the expense of parishioners. By the decision of Patriarch Tikhon, the Brotherhood of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was created, which set as its goal the preservation of the Orthodox shrine.
Destruction
The Brotherhood failed to defend the Temple - in 1931, on July 13, at a meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR, chaired by M.I. Kalinin, it was decided to demolish the cathedral. The reason for this decision was the construction of a colossal monument to the new, Soviet Russia— Palace of the Soviets: “The site for the construction of the Palace of the Soviets is to choose the square of the Cathedral of Christ in the city of Moscow with the demolition of the temple itself and with the necessary expansion of the area.”
The plan for the reconstruction of Moscow was adopted on June 2, 1931, so at the meeting only the official approval of the decision took place, which was a completely logical continuation of the anti-religious policy of the Soviet state. In fact, the massive destruction of churches that took place throughout the country in those years could not but affect the main Orthodox symbol of the capital - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The explosion that destroyed the cathedral occurred on December 5, 1931. The walls of the Temple, almost 3.2 meters thick, survived the first explosion, so the demolition men had to repeat their work.
December 5, 1931, Temple explosion
The explosions were heard several blocks from the cathedral and truly shocked Muscovites, not only Orthodox Christians, but also those who simply considered the Temple an important part of the white-stone history.
The poet Nikolai Arnold wrote a poem that became an expression of public opinion regarding the destruction of the Temple:
Farewell, keeper of Russian glory,
The magnificent temple of Christ,
Our golden-headed giant,
What shone over the capital...
...Nothing is sacred to us!
And isn't it a shame
What is “a cap of cast gold”
She lay down on the chopping block under the ax.
Just dismantling the ruins of the cathedral took almost a year and a half. After the site was cleared, work began on the construction of the Palace of Congresses, which was to become a real masterpiece of Soviet architecture.
Project of the Palace of Congresses
The giant tower of the Palace was, of course, to be crowned with a statue of Lenin. This decision - the construction of a communist "temple" on the site of an Orthodox one - was very symbolic; the project of the new palace was approved personally by Stalin. According to the project of B. M. Iofan, who won the competition announced by the Soviet government, the building, 420 meters high, was to become the tallest in the world, the main administrative building of the USSR, the center of the so-called “New Moscow”.
Comparison of the sizes of the bombed Temple and the planned Palace of the Soviets
The construction of the Palace of Congresses began in 1937, the workers managed to dig a huge foundation pit, and the construction of the foundation began, which was complicated by difficult soil and quicksand. Until 1941, the construction of the foundation was completed; designer Nikolai Nikitin was responsible for the work, who made all the necessary calculations.
The Great Patriotic War prevented plans to build the Palace of Congresses, but many historians believe that the main reason for the freezing of the project was Stalin's decision to abandon the construction of new symbols of power and preserve more traditional landmarks. Proof of this is the history of the House of Soviets in Leningrad, built on Moskovsky Avenue. As a result, a military institute was opened in the building, and the central authorities remained in the Smolny Institute and the Mariinsky Palace.
During the defense of Moscow, the metal structures of the future Palace of the Soviets were melted down into anti-tank hedgehogs and any work on the construction of the building was stopped.
Officially, the authorities announced their abandonment of the construction of the Palace only in the late 1950s; in 1957-1959, a competition for designs for a new administrative building was held, the same Sparrow Hills being chosen as the site for the construction. And on the site of the pit dug back in 1937, the Moscow swimming pool appeared in 1960, the construction of which, designed by architect Dmitry Chechulin, began in 1958.
Pool "Moscow"
Orthodox residents of the capital have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the construction of an open-air swimming pool on the site of the shrine; there was even a saying: “There was a temple, then it was trash, and now it’s a disgrace.”
Pool "Moscow" shortly before demolition
Recovery
The public movement for the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior began to operate in the late 1980s, after the start of perestroika.
In February 1990, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church blessed the restoration of the shrine, and on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple, on December 5, 1990, a granite “Mortgage” stone was installed at the site of the future construction site. The fund that collected funds for the construction of the cathedral was founded in 1992, according to the decree of President Boris Yeltsin “On the creation of a fund for the revival of Moscow”, the list of objects of which included the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Already in 1994, the restoration of the Temple began. It is interesting that during the construction the foundation of the Palace of the Soviets was used, the construction of which became the formal reason for the demolition of the cathedral. His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II was elected head of the Public Supervisory Council for the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The initial project for the restoration of the main temple of Moscow was drawn up by restorer Alexei Denisov, however, as often happens in our country and already happened once during the construction of the Temple in the 19th century, the construction was surrounded by rumors, accusations of authorities of corruption, waste of funds donated for construction and scandals.
As a result, Denisov left the project and the famous sculptor Zurab Tseretelli took over the leadership of the restoration of the Temple, who deviated from the project approved by the Moscow authorities. In particular, not marble, but bronze high-relief compositions were installed (the originals remaining from the destroyed Temple were preserved in the Donskoy Monastery), and instead of a gilded roof, a coating based on titanium nitride was installed.
One of the fragments of the destroyed Temple stored in the Donskoy Monastery
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior also added modern attributes such as an underground two-level parking lot for 305 cars and a car wash.
Modern view of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior
On January 7, 1996, the ceremonial laying of the last bricks into the wall of the main entrance of the cathedral took place, which was attended by Patriarch Alexy II, Boris Yeltsin and Yuri Luzhkov.
August 19, 1996, in big Orthodox holiday- the day of the Transfiguration, Patriarch Alexy II consecrated the lower Transfiguration Church, its main altar, and the first liturgy took place. After this, regular services began in the Temple, interior decoration which was not yet completed, services were held every Sunday and on holidays.
On September 7, 1997, during the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior became the center of the event ceremonial events, a prayer service was held on the square in front of the cathedral, after which the patriarch consecrated the walls of the Temple.
In 1999, the construction of the upper part of the cathedral was completed, and already on August 19 of the same year, the canonization of the royal family, shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918, took place in the Temple. At one time, in the former cathedral, Nicholas II and his family solemnly celebrated the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, and it was in the restored Temple that the last Russian emperor was canonized.
Artists under the leadership of Zurab Tseretelli began painting the cathedral in April 1999, and already in December the interior decoration of the Temple was completely completed.
Temple interior, 2009
Since December 31, 1999, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior has been open to all believers and those who want to see with their own eyes the largest Orthodox church Russian church, capable of accommodating up to 10 thousand people at a time.
Only in 2010, the plastic medallions in the tympanums of the kokoshniks, temporarily installed before the consecration of the cathedral, were replaced with bronze ones. Protodeacon of the temple Alexander Ageikin noted that in modern conditions, given the current ecology of the capital, white stone medallions, created in the 19th century from special, rare marble, will not last long, so the decision was made to install bronze ones, which will be the main difference between the restored Temple and its destroyed predecessor.
Such bronze medallions and bronze high reliefs instead of marble completely contradict the historical project of Konstantin Ton. Experts say that the restored Temple has become not exact, but conditional external copy cathedral destroyed in 1931.
Bronze sculptures of the Temple
The restored Temple hosts the largest religious services in the country; it was here that funeral services were held for Patriarch Alexy II, President Boris Yeltsin, singer Lyudmila Zykina, cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, choreographer Igor Moiseev, actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Soviet and Russian writer Sergei Mikhalkov. A new Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Kirill, was elected in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Easter service, 2011
Currently, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior is the property of Moscow; the city government receives income from the operation of individual commercial components of the complex and disposes of the building. In 2004, it was announced that the cathedral would be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church for indefinite and free use, and the Board of Trustees of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was also created.
In addition, the cathedral has the status of a metochion of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'; there is a Museum in it, which belongs to the Museum of the History of the City of Moscow.
Anna Sedykh, rmnt.ru
The Cathedral of the Moscow Diocese and the entire Russian Orthodox Church - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow was built as a memorial church dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812.
The idea of erecting a temple in honor of Russia's victory over Napoleon's army belonged to Army General Mikhail Kikin and was transferred to Russian Emperor Alexander I.
At the end of 1812, Alexander I issued a manifesto on the creation of the temple in commemoration of “gratitude to the Providence of God, which saved Russia from the destruction that threatened it.”
On October 24 (12 old style), 1817, the ceremonial laying of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior took place on the Sparrow Hills, but the project was not implemented, as problems arose related to the fragility of the soil, which had underground streams. After the death of Alexander I in 1825, the new Emperor Nicholas I ordered the suspension of all work, and construction was stopped in 1826.
On April 22 (10 old style) April 1832, Emperor Nicholas I approved a new design for the Temple, drawn up by the architect Konstantin Ton. The Emperor personally chose the place for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - on the banks of the Moscow River, not far from the Kremlin, and in 1837 established a special Commission for the construction of a new Temple. The Alekseevsky Convent and the Church of All Saints, located on the site where the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was supposed to be built, were dismantled, and the monastery was transferred to Krasnoe Selo (now Sokolniki).
22 (10 old style) September 1839 of the new church.
In September 1994, the Moscow government decided to recreate the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in its previous architectural forms.
On January 7, 1995, on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, together with the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov, laid a memorial capsule at the base of the temple.
The temple was built in less than six years. The first construction work began on September 29, 1994. On Easter 1996, the first Easter Vespers was celebrated under the arches of the church. In 2000, all internal and external finishing work were completed.
On August 19, 2000, on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord, Patriarch Alexy II performed the Great Consecration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The architectural design of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior complex was developed by the Mosproekt-2 management together with the Moscow Patriarchate. The project manager and chief architect is academician Mikhail Posokhin. Work on recreating the artistic decoration has been completed Russian Academy arts, led by its president Zurab Tsereteli, 23 artels of artists took part in the painting. The reconstruction of the sculptural decoration of the temple facades was carried out under the leadership of Academician Yuri Orekhov with the assistance of the Sculptor Foundation. The bells were cast at the I.A. Plant. Likhacheva (AMO ZIL).
The recreated temple is reproduced as close to the original as possible. During design and construction work 19th-century information was used, including sketches and drawings. The modern temple is distinguished by its stylobate part ( ground floor), erected on the site of an existing foundation hill. In this building, 17 meters high, there is the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the hall of Church Councils, the meeting hall of the Holy Synod, refectory chambers, as well as technical and office premises. Elevators are installed in the columns of the Temple and in the stylobate part.
Walls and load-bearing structures The temple is made of reinforced concrete followed by brick lining. For exterior finishing Marble from the Koelga deposit (Chelyabinsk region) was used, and the plinth and stairs were made of red granite from the Balmoral deposit (Finland).
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is the largest cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church, it can accommodate up to 10 thousand people. The total height of the building is 103 meters, the internal space is 79 meters, the thickness of the walls is up to 3.2 meters. The area of the temple's paintings is more than 22 thousand square meters.
The temple has three altars - the main one, consecrated in honor of the Nativity of Christ, and two side altars in the choir - in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (south) and St. Prince Alexander Nevsky (north).
Among the main shrines of the temple are a piece of the robe of Jesus Christ and the Nail of the Holy Cross, a piece of the robe Holy Mother of God, the holy relics of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov) of Moscow, the head of St. John Chrysostom, particles of the holy relics of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Metropolitans of Moscow Peter and Jonah, Princes Alexander Nevsky and Michael of Tver, Venerable Mary of Egypt. In the temple there are miraculous images of the Vladimir Mother of God and the Smolensk-Ustyuzhensk Mother of God.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior is Cathedral Russian Orthodox Church. The rector of the temple is Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the key keeper is Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Konstantin Andreevich Ton
(1794 - 1881)
Having decided to stop construction work on Vorobyovy Gory, on May 11, 1827, the Senate issues a decree that says: “The commission on the construction of a temple in Moscow in the name of Christ the Savior is closed, and its affairs, officials, buildings, prepared materials and all government departments its property - transfer to the jurisdiction of the Moscow military governor-general and actual privy adviser to Prince Yusupov."(1)
On February 19, 1830, the minister of the imperial court informed the Moscow governor-general: “His Imperial Majesty ordered Prince Golitsyn to gather all the architects and ask if they agree to build a temple on the Sparrow Hills, if not, then select places and draw up a competition of Russian architects and foreign ones."(2) All Moscow and St. Petersburg architects invited to participate in the second competition agreed with the possibility of erecting a temple on the surface of the Sparrow Hills. But at the same time, many Moscow architects refused to participate in drawing up the design of the temple on the Sparrow Hills, offering their own options for placing the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. St. Petersburg resident Ton, a man extremely sensitive to new trends, joined the quest of Moscow architects.
The new cathedral, like the Witberg temple, was facing the Moscow River and stood on the bend of the high bank. This is where the similarity between the place on Sparrow Hills and the place near the Kremlin ends. There are many more differences. Built near the Kremlin, the temple entered the historically established system of verticals of Moscow churches and the panorama of its front ensemble, facing the Moscow River. Along with the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior became one of the dominant features of the city center. The surrounding buildings gravitate towards its powerful volume. To give an idea of the size of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior under construction, a contemporary notes: “The Bell Tower of Ivan the Great in Moscow serves for many as a measure of the special height of buildings... It could easily fit into the interior of the newly erected temple.” The huge temple, about 100 m high, was placed far enough from the Kremlin so as not to look like an appendage of it and not lose its independence, but so close as to be perceived from different points of view in direct connection with it.
It is characteristic that all of Thon’s proposals regarding the choice of location for the future cathedral had one common feature: he proposes to build a new temple on the site of existing churches or monasteries. The chosen location near the Kremlin was very advantageous. The churches that stood there (and then the Cathedral of Christ the Savior) organically fit into the panorama of the banks of the Moscow River, be it views from the Yauza and Simonov Monastery or from the opposite side - from Neskuchny Garden and Sparrow Hills, from Zamoskvorechye. From the opposite bank and along the Moscow River, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior could be seen in combination with the Kremlin, which was greatly facilitated by the different location of the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge than today. The old Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge and the new metal bridge that replaced it in the mid-nineteenth century were located in a different place from the current one, built in the 1930s. The bridge was located upstream of the Moscow River along the axis of the street Lenivki, in a fundamentally different relationship with the embankment. The bridge deck was located on the same level with it. The embankment was not interrupted, as it is now, by the coastal span of the bridge, nor was it divided into separate sections, allowing it to be perceived as a single whole, as a solemn avenue.
Taking into account that the symbolism of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior as a whole was aimed at identifying connections with the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, big The advantage of the finally chosen location was the magnificent view of the Kremlin from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with cathedrals, towers and the bell tower of Ivan the Great.
The obvious trends emerging in the society of that time towards the search for national forms in literature, art and public life aroused interest in antiquities and ancient monuments. They were seen as role models. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior became the first church building of such great ideological significance and grandiose scale, where the author tried to summarize the national building traditions of Russia, different from classicism. The appearance of the cathedral indicated that Russian architecture was based on the Byzantine tradition, how it was transformed during the Middle Ages by Vladimir and Moscow masters. At the same time, he retained the rigor and symmetry born of “learned” academic classicism.
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was designed by Ton according to the model of the most majestic and at the same time traditional type of ancient Russian cathedral, dating back to Byzantine models. churches. Five-domed, four-pillared, with a characteristic vaulted ceiling: each part of the temple covered with a vault received a direct expression on the facades in the form of a curvilinear completion. Along with this, Tone also reproduces a number of minor features of ancient architecture, which had important symbolic meaning and were associated with very specific prototypes. Such elements included, for example, the keel-shaped outlines of zakomars, characteristic of Moscow churches of the 15th - 16th centuries (keel-shaped zakomars had the Annunciation Cathedral - the home church of the Moscow kings, and the Church of the Deposition of the Robe, located on the Cathedral Square of the Kremlin).
The shape of the main dome and side bell towers also goes back to ancient Russian prototypes. All of them have a bulbous shape, characteristic of Moscow churches of the 15th - 16th centuries.
The tone gave the Cathedral of Christ the Savior another feature characteristic of an ancient Russian cathedral-type church - a covered gallery encircling the main volume of the church. In ancient Russian churches it was arranged lower than the main volume, thereby giving the church a stepped silhouette and a pronounced verticality of the overall composition. In Ton's project the gallery is two-tiered. In it, Ton seemed to combine two different elements at once, but equally common in Old Russian architecture - galleries and choirs (choirs are an element common in the most ancient pre-Mongol period of Old Russian architecture). The second (upper) tier of the gallery serves as a choir.
The lower corridor (gallery) was intended to describe the battles of the Patriotic War of 1812 (battle such and such, year, month and date, the commander of the troops such and such, the troops and guns participating, the names of officers killed and wounded in this battle and the total number of lower soldiers who were out of action ranks). Here lies one of the fundamental differences from Witberg’s project, which intended to perpetuate the memory of all fallen soldiers.
At the same time, Witberg translated the events of the Patriotic War of 1812 in the context of Christian and world history. He dedicated the thrones of his temple to the main events of Christ's earthly life - the Nativity, Transfiguration and Resurrection. Of these, only the Nativity of Christ correlated with that in memory of which the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built - on this day the Manifesto on the construction of the temple was promulgated.
Ton dedicates the main altar of the temple to the Nativity of Christ, the side chapels to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Alexander Nevsky. Chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker contacted Nicholas I, who brought to life the plan of his sovereign brother. Chapel of St. Alexander Nevsky correlated with the names of three Emperors at once: Alexander I (he owned the idea of creating the temple), Alexander II (under him the construction was completed), and Alexander III (during his reign the temple was consecrated).
Opposite the main entrance, in the eastern branch of the cross, a unique By composition of the iconostasis in the form of a white marble octagonal chapel topped with a bronze tent. The unusualness of the iconostasis, which had no analogues or predecessors in ancient Russian and post-Petrine architecture and remained the only one of its kind, was that it had the appearance of a tented temple, the type of which was widespread in Rus' in the 16th - first half of the 17th centuries. Thus, a kind of temple within a temple that appeared in the interior emphasized the uniqueness of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, its high significance as a unique Temple of Temples.
Continuous revision of the project during long construction allows us to consider the Cathedral of Christ the Savior as a monument of art, embodying the most striking trends not only at the time the project was approved, but also for the entire half of the century. Individual parts of the temple represent individual stages of the artistic process. The earliest stage (1830 - 1850) is associated with facades. The sculptures decorating them are a later phenomenon (1846 - 1863). The late stage (1860 - 1880) also correspond paintings, church furniture and utensils (1870 - early 1880).
Project K.A. Tona revives the ancient, medieval Russian artistic tradition. Ton became the founder of a new era in Russian art, the author of the first programmatic structure of a new direction. In terms of the influence exerted on the course of development of Russian architecture, none of his contemporaries can compete with Ton. After the creation of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the construction of churches in the Russian style became widespread throughout Russia.
In the spring of 1880, a stretcher with an eighty-year-old man was brought to the foot of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, sparkling with gold domes and crosses. He wanted to get up to climb the steps to the temple, but he couldn’t muster the strength. So he lay there with his eyes full of tears.
One can only guess about the feelings that the outstanding architect experienced when he saw his main creation. Did he know about the nationwide love that would surround the Cathedral of Christ the Savior?
Only one thing is known: Konstantin Andreevich Ton, a man with a soul filled with patriotism and pride for the Russian people, spent almost fifty years in tireless work on the construction of the Main Temple of Russia. He died, not having lived very long before the consecration of his brainchild, until the day when, under the powerful arches of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Eternal Memory was proclaimed by those who had performed a feat of arms in the name of the Fatherland, until the day when he, K.A. Tona, the name was spoken with gratitude ordinary people kneeling in prayer before the altar...
Brief curriculum vitae:
Konstantin Andreevich Ton was born on October 26, 1794 in the family of the Russified German jeweler Andrei Ton. In addition to Konstantin, he had two more sons - Alexander and Andrey. All three brothers became architects. Like Konstantin, Alexander achieved a professorship in his career, but worked not only as an architect, but also as a graphic artist and specialist in the field of lithography. Andrey, having completed his studies, moved to Kharkov and was a university professor.
Konstantin was assigned to the Academy of Arts at the age of nine, as allowed by the norms of the academic charter early XIX century. Since 1809, he began to study architecture under the guidance of A.N. Voronikhin. According to the rules of the course, students of the architectural department developed educational projects according to the instructions of their teachers, the best of which were awarded medals of various denominations. Konstantin Ton also received such awards: in 1813, a small silver medal was awarded to his project for an invalid's home, and a year later, Ton was awarded a large silver medal for the development of a monastery project. In 1815, Thon received a small gold medal for the design of the Senate building. At the same time, he was awarded the title of artist of the 1st degree, which gave him the right to travel abroad “to improve in the arts” as an academic pensioner. However, Ton was unable to make such a trip immediately after receiving the title of artist: at that time the Academy did not have the funds to pay the appropriate pension. The young architect was forced to join the Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic Works, where he most likely served as a draftsman. And in 1818, a recent graduate of the Academy presented to its court the fair project he had completed, which was highly praised by specialists. Thanks to this success, Konstantin Ton was finally able to go on a retirement trip. This happened in May 1819, when A.N. was already the president of the Academy of Arts. Olenin is an outstanding figure of Russian culture, an energetic administrator, a scholar-historian and an art connoisseur.
Thon spent almost ten years abroad. He lived, like other academic retirees, mainly in Italy, studying there the monuments of art of antiquity and the Renaissance. Thon's research into ancient ruins allowed him to develop projects for the restoration of the Sanctuary of Fortune in Praeneste and the complex of imperial palaces on the Palatine in Rome. The creation of such “restorations” was considered a mandatory section of the training program for academic retirees in Italy: it was supposed to contribute to a better assimilation of the laws of classical composition, which young architects were then to use in design practice. In December 1828, Konstantin Ton returned to St. Petersburg, where he soon began work on the project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Konstantin Andreevich Ton, a man of exceptional hard work, designed many churches, most of which were built in St. Petersburg and its environs. According to Ton's designs, cathedrals were built in Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yelets, Sveaborg, Tikhvin, etc. Many civil buildings were built according to Ton's designs: Petersburg Station in Moscow and Moskovsky Station in St. Petersburg, the famous pier with sphinxes in front of the building of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, the building of the Maly Theater in Moscow. Thon created two atlases of model church projects and an album of model projects of rural knowledge.
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