Publication details
The National Shrine as a Solution to an Identity Crisis: Re-building the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow in the 1990’s
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | After the break-up of the USSR, Russia was plunged into a deep identity, political and economic crisis, searching for explanations of its past as well as for new ways of existence. In this context, the re-construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow was proposed as a gesture of reconciliation with the past and as an act of re-unifying the nation. The original church, built between 1839 and 1861 as a monument of the victory over Napoleon in 1812, became the national shrine of Russia. In 1932, the building was destroyed by Stalin to be replaced by the Palace of Soviets. However, Stalin´s project was never accomplished. In the nineties, the idea was introduced to reconstruct the church in an identical way as a symbol of atonement for the errors of the communist period and as a connection to the pre-revolutionary tradition. This proposal was stormily debated in the public sphere and fueled the open reflection of a new Russian identity. Nevertheless, the final decision to build the cathedral was made by the state authorities without regard to the voices of opposition. Paradoxically, even if accepted by the majority as “the Church of Reconciliation”, the building became also the object of the split in the society. Unclear financing leading to big tax evasions and the tight collaboration of the Patriarchate with the state power structure were criticized by the opponents, who called the shrine “the Church of Vanity”. The analysis of the pros and cons of the project, as well as the study of rhetoric and means used by the state power structure to approve the construction, give a good opportunity to look into the Russian post-communist identity crisis, including the attempts of its solution. |