Category Archives: Architecture

NATIONAL CATHEDRAL – WASHINGTON DC

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Resurrection Chapel

Bethlehem Chapel
Inside the West Entrance
The Central Tower
The Northwest Tower
The Great Organ
The Southwest Tower

Sunday Hours Open8 am–5 pm
Tours Offered 1–2:30 pm
Monday–Friday Hours Open 10 am–5:30 pm
Tours Offered 10–11:30 am 12:45–4 pm
Saturday Hours Open 10 am–4:30 pm
Tours Offered 10–11:30 am 12:45–3:30 pm

On January 24, 1791, President George Washington commissioned Major Pierre L’Enfant to create a visionary plan for the nation’s capital. It was L’Enfant who first imagined “a great church for national purposes.” Not until a century later, with support from community leaders such as Charles C. Glover, did plans for building Washington National Cathedral gain momentum.

The longest-running construction project in Washington, D.C., history officially began on September 29, 1907, when workmen laid the Cathedral’s foundation stone. President Theodore Roosevelt and the Bishop of London spoke to a crowd of ten thousand. The stone itself came from a field near Bethlehem and was set into a larger piece of American granite. On it was the inscription: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

In 2007, the Cathedral marked the start of its second century with a centennial celebration including festivals, reunions, exalted liturgy, concerts, lectures, and the inauguration of the new dean’s Sunday Forum.

NATIONAL CATHEDRAL – WASHINGTON DC

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Resurrection Chapel

Bethlehem Chapel
Inside the West Entrance
The Central Tower
The Northwest Tower
The Great Organ
The Southwest Tower

Sunday Hours Open8 am–5 pm
Tours Offered 1–2:30 pm
Monday–Friday Hours Open 10 am–5:30 pm
Tours Offered 10–11:30 am 12:45–4 pm
Saturday Hours Open 10 am–4:30 pm
Tours Offered 10–11:30 am 12:45–3:30 pm

On January 24, 1791, President George Washington commissioned Major Pierre L’Enfant to create a visionary plan for the nation’s capital. It was L’Enfant who first imagined “a great church for national purposes.” Not until a century later, with support from community leaders such as Charles C. Glover, did plans for building Washington National Cathedral gain momentum.

The longest-running construction project in Washington, D.C., history officially began on September 29, 1907, when workmen laid the Cathedral’s foundation stone. President Theodore Roosevelt and the Bishop of London spoke to a crowd of ten thousand. The stone itself came from a field near Bethlehem and was set into a larger piece of American granite. On it was the inscription: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

In 2007, the Cathedral marked the start of its second century with a centennial celebration including festivals, reunions, exalted liturgy, concerts, lectures, and the inauguration of the new dean’s Sunday Forum.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow

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History
The idea for this church dates from the early 19th century. When the last of Napoleon’s soldiers left Moscow, Tsar Alexander I signed a manifesto dated December 25, 1812, declaring his intention to build a cathedral in honor of Christ the Savior. The cathedral would “signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her” and acts as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
Plans were drawn and a site was chosen but before construction began, Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas. Profoundly Orthodox and patriotic, the new Tsar disliked the Neoclassical design that had been endorsed by his brother.
Alexander commissioned his favourite architect Konstantin Thon to create a new design, modeled after the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The present site was chosen by the Tsar in 1837; a convent and church already standing on the site had to be relocated.
Construction began in 1839 and the cathedral didn’t emerge from its scaffolding until 1860; elaborate frescos by some of the best Russian painters continued in the interior for another 20 years. The cathedral was consecrated on the day Alexander III was crowned, May 26, 1883. A year earlier, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” debuted there.
After the Revolution, the prominent site of the cathedral called out for redevelopment by the Soviets, who planned to replace the church with a monument to socialism, known as the Palace of Soviets. It would rise in modernistic buttressed tiers to support a gigantic sculpture of Lenin, arm raised in blessing, perched atop a dome. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble.
Funds for the largest building in the world remained unavailable, however. A foundation hole gaped on the site until under Nikita Khrushchev it was transformed into a huge public swimming pool.
With the end of the Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (February 1990). A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year.
A construction fund was opened in 1992 and foundations began to be poured in the fall of 1994. The lower church (Church of the Transfiguration) was consecrated in 1996, and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated August 19, 2000.
Photo by Val Buzeta
The majestic Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Photo by Ian Murdock.


Photo by Val Buzeta

Cathedral of Christ the Savior and Moskva River by night. Photo © Xoox

Christ the Savior
with St. Basil’s in the foreground.

Quick Facts
Names:
Cathedral of Christ the Savior; ???? ?????? ?????????; khram Khrista Spasitela
Type of site:
Cathedral
Faith:
Russian Orthodox
Date:
2000
Size:
Possibly the largest Orthodox church in the world
Location:
On the banks of the river near the Kremlin, Moscow
Website:
/www.xxc.ru/english
Hours:
Daily 6:30am-10pm
Cost:
Free
Photography:
Not permitted inside.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow

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History
The idea for this church dates from the early 19th century. When the last of Napoleon’s soldiers left Moscow, Tsar Alexander I signed a manifesto dated December 25, 1812, declaring his intention to build a cathedral in honor of Christ the Savior. The cathedral would “signify Our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from the doom that overshadowed Her” and acts as a memorial to the sacrifices of the Russian people.
Plans were drawn and a site was chosen but before construction began, Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas. Profoundly Orthodox and patriotic, the new Tsar disliked the Neoclassical design that had been endorsed by his brother.
Alexander commissioned his favourite architect Konstantin Thon to create a new design, modeled after the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The present site was chosen by the Tsar in 1837; a convent and church already standing on the site had to be relocated.
Construction began in 1839 and the cathedral didn’t emerge from its scaffolding until 1860; elaborate frescos by some of the best Russian painters continued in the interior for another 20 years. The cathedral was consecrated on the day Alexander III was crowned, May 26, 1883. A year earlier, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” debuted there.
After the Revolution, the prominent site of the cathedral called out for redevelopment by the Soviets, who planned to replace the church with a monument to socialism, known as the Palace of Soviets. It would rise in modernistic buttressed tiers to support a gigantic sculpture of Lenin, arm raised in blessing, perched atop a dome. On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was dynamited and reduced to rubble.
Funds for the largest building in the world remained unavailable, however. A foundation hole gaped on the site until under Nikita Khrushchev it was transformed into a huge public swimming pool.
With the end of the Soviet rule, the Russian Orthodox Church received permission to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (February 1990). A temporary cornerstone was laid by the end of the year.
A construction fund was opened in 1992 and foundations began to be poured in the fall of 1994. The lower church (Church of the Transfiguration) was consecrated in 1996, and the completed Cathedral of Christ the Saviour was consecrated August 19, 2000.
Photo by Val Buzeta
The majestic Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Photo by Ian Murdock.


Photo by Val Buzeta

Cathedral of Christ the Savior and Moskva River by night. Photo © Xoox

Christ the Savior
with St. Basil’s in the foreground.

Quick Facts
Names:
Cathedral of Christ the Savior; Храм Христа Спасителя; khram Khrista Spasitela
Type of site:
Cathedral
Faith:
Russian Orthodox
Date:
2000
Size:
Possibly the largest Orthodox church in the world
Location:
On the banks of the river near the Kremlin, Moscow
Website:
/www.xxc.ru/english
Hours:
Daily 6:30am-10pm
Cost:
Free
Photography:
Not permitted inside.