A cathedral destroyed by Stalin, then turned into a public swimming pool

Countries & Cities · Published 12 October 2026 · Updated 25 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow is a masterpiece of resurrection. Once the largest church in Russia, it was demolished by the Soviets in 1931, only to be replaced by a massive open-air swimming pool for decades before finally being rebuilt as a symbol of religious revival.

The site's history is defined by a cycle of destruction and rebirth. In 1812, following Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, Tsar Alexander I declared his intent to build a cathedral to honor Christ the Saviour and memorialize the sacrifices of the Russian people. However, the project faced immediate hurdles. The initial site on Sparrow Hills proved unstable, and the first approved design by Aleksandr Lavrentyevich Vitberg—a Neoclassical structure featuring Masonic symbolism—was rejected by the subsequent Tsar, Nicholas I.

Nicholas preferred a Russian Revival style modeled after the Hagia Sophia, leading to the selection of architect Konstantin Thon and the relocation of the site to its current location near the Kremlin. The original cathedral, completed in 1883, took over 40 years to build and served as a major cultural landmark, even hosting the 1882 world premiere of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

This structure was demolished in 1931 by Soviet authorities to make way for the Palace of Soviets, a planned legislative building. When construction on that palace was halted in 1941 due to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the site was flooded and used as a public swimming pool starting in 1958. The current cathedral, completed in 2000, stands as a modern interpretation of the original 19th-century design. While it features a gold-plated dome and marble cladding, many of its original stone details were reproduced using bronze and plastic. Measuring 103 metres in height, this structure ranks as the world's third highest Orthodox Christian church, representing the resurgence of Russian Orthodoxy after communism collapsed.

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