Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

We were taken to another iconic landmark just by Griboyedov Canal in the afternoon of 16.09.2025 - the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. This Church stands as one of Russia’s most striking and historically significant landmarks. Its unusual name is deeply rooted in a tragic event in Russian history - the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. The phrase “on Spilled Blood” refers quite literally to the blood shed by the tsar on the very site where the church was later constructed.

On 01.03.1881, Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded by a bomb thrown by a revolutionary along the Griboyedov Canal, then known as the Catherine Canal. The attack marked the end of a ruler who had enacted significant reforms, including the emancipation of the serfs (the peasants). To commemorate his father’s death and to honor his memory, Tsar Alexander III commissioned a church to be built precisely where the assassination occurred. During construction, part of the cobblestone pavement where Alexander II’s blood had fallen was preserved inside the church as a sacred memorial.

Completed in 1907, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood serves both as a religious monument and a national memorial. Its architecture differs markedly from the surrounding neoclassical buildings of St. Petersburg. Instead, it draws inspiration from medieval Russian churches, particularly St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, with its colorful onion domes, elaborate mosaics, and ornate details.

Thus, the name “Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood” symbolizes both sacrifice and remembrance - a tribute to a fallen tsar and a reflection of Russia’s turbulent history. Today, the church stands not only as a masterpiece of art and architecture but also as a poignant reminder of the cost of reform and the enduring power of faith and memory.

Left photo above is said to be the very spot where Tsar Alexander II was fatally wounded in 1881. This is the Shrine of the Assassination Site inside the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.

On reflection, the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 stemmed from a profound clash between reform and revolution in imperial Russia. Known as the “Tsar Liberator,” Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861 and introduced significant reforms to modernize the empire. Yet his efforts satisfied no one - the nobility resented the loss of privileges, the peasants gained too little land and remained burdened by debt, and the radicals condemned his reforms as timid and incomplete.

Frustrated by slow and uneven progress, the revolutionary organization Narodnaya Volya (“The People’s Will”) resolved to overthrow the autocracy by force. On 01.03.1881, their plot succeeded when a bomb fatally wounded the tsar in St. Petersburg.

Ironically, the death of a reform-minded ruler ended a period of cautious modernization and ushered in an era of reaction and repression under his son, Alexander III. The assassination’s central motif embodies the tragic conflict between idealism and authority - a reminder that gradual change can provoke extremism when the public’s hope for progress fades.

History shows that visionary leaders who dared to pursue reform or changes often paid a heavy price for their courage. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated for freeing enslaved Americans; President Anwar Sadat was killed after opening Egypt to peace with Israel; Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered for seeking reconciliation with the Palestinians; and Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for his fight against apartheid in South Africa. Each fell victim to the same tragic paradox: those who strive to heal divisions sometimes ignite the deepest hatreds.