Eighty years ago, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up in Moscow

Moscow/Prague - As an unnecessary relic of the past, the imposing Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up in Moscow on December 5, 1931, by the order of the highest Soviet official, Joseph Stalin. The monumental structure in Byzantine style was built in the very heart of the metropolis on the banks of the Moskva River under the personal supervision of the tsars from 1817 with the participation of the best Russian architects, painters, and sculptors, and after endless twists and turns, it was finally consecrated in May 1883.
The cathedral, which Muscovites called "the little sun" for its gold-plated domes, had to give way to Stalin's plans for the grand Palace of Soviets, but it was never built, and so a swimming pool eventually rose on the site of the cathedral. After the fall of the Soviet regime, work began on the restoration of the cathedral; a faithful replica of the pompous building, constructed of marble and gold, took five years to build, cost 600 million dollars, and was consecrated in August 2000.