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Writer's pictureGlenn Dobbs

Mother Russia


The Church of the Spilled Blood

June 30, 2018 - Yesterday we explored what has proven to be a highlight of this episode, St Petersburg. The city truly lives up to the hype.


It was founded and planned by Peter the Great and he spared no expense. He sought the help of Italian designers and built a European world capital that rivals Paris.


There were a lot of candidates for today’s blog. I settled on ‘The Church on the Spilled Blood’. It is a stunning Russian Orthodox Church filled with glittering mosaics.

Interior of The Church of the Spilled Blood


Despite it’s name, it is not named after the blood atonement of Christ. Instead, the name derives from the fact that a Russian Tsar , Alexander II, was murdered on this spot. He was getting out of his carriage on a cobblestone road when someone through a bomb at him, blowing his legs off. His son decided to venerate the spot by building a church over the spot complete with an alter over the original cobble stone where he died.


Where the Tsar died in the interior of the Church of the Spilled Blood

There is more. When the Russian revolution happened in 1917, there was a movement to tear down all the churches. Many were destroyed. Thankfully this one was not wrecked.

The vaulted ceiling of the Church of the Spilled Blood



However, Soviets wanted to make a point about “No God allowed”. So they used the building to store potatoes. Today it is ‘a Museum’. No worship services are held here.






But there is so much more here - It was quite a day -



The narrow staircase where Rasputin was assassinated


The massive Hermitage Museum - The former "Winter Palace" of Catherine the Great

Interior of Hermatage

Typical Soviet Apartments -- There are no real "homes" in St Petersburg. The population almost exclusively live in apartments. Many citizens have "Dachas" or summer homes in the country outside the city.

The spectacular Stalin era Subway system.

On the banks of the Neva River which runs thru the city of St Petersburg creating the many islands the community is built upon.




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