About 75
percent of Russians practice Orthodox Christianity, a religion I know very
little about, so while in St. Petersburg I took a tour of four Orthodox
churches. Two of the churches were working churches and two had basically been
turned into museums. The two churches I write about today are the two “museum
churches:” the Church of the Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s.
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| Church of the Spilled Blood in STP. |
Probably the
most famous church in St. Petersburg is the Church of the Spilled Blood (sometimes
known as the Church of the Savior on Blood). The church was built on the site
where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and a special memorial marks
the exact spot where he was mortally wounded. The Church was supposed to be
torn down just before the beginning of World War II but when the war broke out,
the gunpowder to be used to blow up and destroy the church was instead used for
the war efforts.
The outside of
the church is pretty spectacular but believe it or not, the inside is even better!
Covered in more than 7,000 square meters of mosaics, the church’s interior
sparkles as the sun streams through the windows. Sorry Michelangelo, but this
may beat your Sistine Chapel!
My visit to
St. Isaac’s included options: go into the church or up into the Dome for a view
of the city. Over 200 stairs later, I was up taking in an amazing view of St.
Petersburg! It was a beautiful day with a beautiful view.
Visiting the
two working churches was interesting. I heard from the religion professor on
board that Orthodox Christianity is one of the purest forms of Christianity
still practiced. I was surprised by their use of icons. The churches were
covered in paintings and statues representing religious icons, and patrons
seemed to pick an icon and pray to it plus also make little offerings. The
patrons’ behaviors regarding the icons reminded me of the Hindi temples I
visited this spring. Perhaps common threads run through the world’s religions
after all.
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| Inside the Church of the Spilled Blood. Everything you see is mosaic! |
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| The spot where Tsar Alexander II was mortally wounded. It's said that the stones on the floor still have his spilled blood on them, although I couldn't see anything. Hence the church's name. |
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| Interior of Church of the Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. All mosaic work. |
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| Church of the Spilled Blood. |
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| Church of the Spilled Blood. |
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| Church of the Spilled Blood. |
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| Libby, a Charlottesville native, UVA student and one of my work studies, and I at the top of St. Isaac's Church. |
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| View from the top of St. Isaac's Church in St. Petersburg. You can see the Hermitage State Museum on the left and the Church of the Spilled Blood on the right. |
