April 08, 2005
STALIN'S VISION OF MOSCOW
the never-built palace of soviets, for which stalin razed the church of christ the savior
From a fascinating photogallery of Stalin's vision for Moscow:
"The Palace of Soviets was planned to be the largest building in the world. Its height was to reach 415 meters - higher than the Eiffel Tower & the Empire State Building. The building was to be topped by a 100 meter statue of Lenin. The chosen location was the site of the demolished Church of Christ the Savior. By 1939 the foundations of the upper part were completed. Construction was suspended in 1941 because of the war & never resumed."
In his book Imperium, Ryszard Kapuscinski calls the Church of Christ the Savior one of the wonders of the world, raised by Alexander I in honor of Russia's deliverance from Napoleon:
- Took 45 years to build
- 30 stories tall
- Walls 3.2 meter thick, built from 40 million bricks & covered inside & out with slabs of marble & granite
- Crowned by cupola covered in 176 tons of bronze & a cross 3 stories high. Cupola was surrounded by 4 belfries with 14 bells weighing 65 tons. 12 bronze gates led into interior, which was lit by 3000 candles. Since each worshipper that entered also lit a candle (could hold 10,000 people), the windows glowed for a great distance.
- Iconostasis contained 422 kg of gold; walls covered in 177 marble plaques listing Russian battles, names of dead & wounded; unknown tons of silver, brass, enamel, & gemstones.
In 1931, Stalin decided to raze it. Kapuscinski:
"It is 1931. Let us imagine that Mussolini orders the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome to be razed. Let us imagine that Paul Doumer, president of France, orders the Cathedral of Notre Dame to be razed. Let is imagine that Poland's Marshall Pilsudski orders the Jasnogorski Monastery in Czestochowa to be razed. Can we imagine such a thing? No."
The Church was rebuilt after the fall of Communism.
Stalin's Moscow Photogallery; Church of Christ the Savior
Posted by Jeff at April 8, 2005 12:42 PM
Comments
Indeed, Stalin did have grandiose plans for the Soviet Union and her place in the world (on top of course!). Sorry to pimp my links in your comments section, but I wrote a long essay specifically on how Stalin industrialized the Soviet Union, while engaging in a reign of terror of magnitudes unimaginable.
Stalin - A Brief History of Industrialization and The Reign of Terror
Cool link. Glad to see the Church is back up.
Posted by: TF6S at April 8, 2005 01:05 PM
But I'll bet they had great health care.
Posted by: j.d. at April 9, 2005 06:25 AM
I loves this juicy quote from the photogallery:
"The competition for the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was one of the most extensive and impressive of this century. The idea of constructing a building which could be a symbol of the "imminent triumph of communism" in the capital of the world's first state of workers and peasants was mooted in the 1920s."
"The competition...(to build) a symbol of the 'imminent triumph of communism'" was a gem of uniquely Soviet proportion.
Posted by: Martin at Blogbat at April 9, 2005 10:23 AM
Very cool Jeff.
Look at the cars in the drawing of the House of Books. It appears the workers paradise was going to reward the proletariat with Duesenbergs.
Posted by: AGR at April 10, 2005 09:41 AM
I'd love to know more about how close the reproduction Church was to the original.
What a fascinating, tragi-comedic story.
Posted by: Attila Girl at April 10, 2005 10:49 PM
I think the NKVDistas kidnapped Jeff.
Posted by: Jonathan at April 11, 2005 08:03 AM
Believe me, there are A LOT of Stalinesque structures all over town. The church I attended in Moscow met in an elementary school which was really a convent that Stalin had forced to be closed.
Posted by: Rusty at April 20, 2005 02:02 PM