Christ The Savior Cathedral

The Christ the Savior Cathedral was built (1839-1883) in memory of the Russian victory over Napoleon by Konstantin Ton (1797 - 1881), a Russian architect and the founder of the so called Russian-Byzantine style. His most famous designs are: Christ the Savior's Cathedral (1837-89) in Moscow, The Great Kremlin Palace (1839 - 49) and the Armory Chamber (1843-51) in the Moscow Kremlin, the station buildings on Oktyabrskaya (former Nikolayevskaya) railway in Moscow and St.Petersburg (1844-51).

The Christ the Savior Cathedral was destroyed in December 5th, 1931 - during Stalin's time, because the communists decided to build the "Soviet Palace" for their meetings. Of the "Soviet Palace" only the foundation was finished when the work was stopped. The place in the heart of Moscow was for many years used as a swimming-pool. Boris Yeltsin decided in 1995 to reconstruct the church. In 2000 the work was finished.

Note: this description was taken from www.ivan.ru where you find 8 daily updated views of Moscow. One of them is the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Please visit this site.