Church on Spilled Blood

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Church on Spilled Blood) is one of the main sights of Saint Petersburg, Russia. On 31 March 1881, as Tsar Alexander II's carriage passed along the embankment, a grenade thrown by an anarchist conspirator exploded. The tsar, shaken but unhurt, got out of the carriage and started to remonstrate with the presumed culprit. A second conspirator took the chance to throw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounding the tsar. The tsar, bleeding heavily, was taken back to the Winter Palace, where he died a few hours later. A temporary shrine was erected on the site of the attack while plans and fundraising for a more permanent memorial were undertaken. In order to build a permanent shrine on the exact spot where the assassination took place, it was decided to narrow the canal so that the section of road on which the tsar had been driving could be included within the walls of the church. An elaborate shrine, in the form of a ciborium, was constructed at the end of the church opposite the altar, on the exact place of Alexander's assassination. It is embellished with topaz, lazurite and other semi-precious stones, making a striking contrast with the simple cobblestones of the old road, which are exposed in the floor of the shrine. Construction began in 1883 during the reign of Alexander III, 2 years after the assassination of his father Alexander II. The church was dedicated to be a memorial to his father, Alexander II. The church is prominently situated along the Griboedov Canal; paved roads run along both sides of the canal.