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In summer the road to Tsarskoe Selo is lined with clumps of birches, flashing silver in the wind with strings of leaves. Later on the birches give out to tall limes and chestnut trees which arch over the cars and buses darting along the narrow, two lane roadway which leads to the palaces. Tourists crane their necks through tour bus windows above and through the trees for their first glimpse of the baroque and neo-classical palaces of the Tsar's Village. Instead, towering above the topmost boughs, a white tower with a gray onion dome is the first signal that Tsarskoe Selo is near. It's kind of a shock to see this Old Russian-style cathedral which acts like a sentinel guarding the palaces. Before the Second World War the dome was covered with gold and could be seen glittering for miles around.
The "Feodorovskij" Cathedral was built between 1910 and 1912, in an open space near the Alexander Palace. The site was selected by Nickolas and Alexsandra on one of their winter walks through the Imperial Park in 1908. There were a number of lovely western-style churches in Tsarskoe Selo , even several chapels in the palaces themselves, but Alexandra had longed for a 'genuine' Russian church she and the family could attend regularly. During the years she had been in Russia, Alexandra had made a number of pilgrimages to the most ancient and holy monasteries in Russia. She had seen the soaring, cave-like interiors of old cathedrals with their rhythmic frescoed saints on gilded backgrounds, flickering in the soft light of icon lamps and massive candle stands - amidst clouds of incense and the stirring, mournful voices of Russian choirs - and through this experience fell in love with Holy Russia.
The first architect who worked on the church, Pomerantsev, designed a big church, which he dutifully began to construct. Not long after he had completed the foundations, a new architect, Pokrovskij, replaced him and completed the Cathedral in a different style.
On August 20, 1912 the cathedral, shining with gilded domes and turrets was opened by the Czar and Czarina in person. They were very proud of the Cathedral and Alexandra hoped it would be part of her artistic and religious legacy to the Russian nation. Henceforth the Imperial family considered the Feodorovskij Cathedral to be 'their' church and regularly attended services there when they were in residence at the Alexander Palace.
The exterior of the church was modelled on the original appearance of the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin in 1484 without the alterations and extensions that were added later. There were a number of entrances. The western door, opposite the altar, was smeared with a gigantic mosaic of the "Feodorov" Mother of God, a representation of the Virgin Mary which had blessed the first Romanov Tsar, Mikhail Feodorovich, as he accepted the throne offered by an assembly of the Russian people in 1613. This entrance was rarely used, as it was on the far side of the cathedral, furthest from the palace. The Imperial family had their own private doors to the church, covered by medieval towers crowned by heraldic symbols of the House of Romanov. One of these lead into the main church, while the second lead to an vestibule with a stairway to the crypt, which housed a chapel to St. Seraphim of Sarov, a mystic monk of the early 19th century. Since the Czarina had difficulty climbing stairs due to her chronic heart condition, an elevator was installed which lead directly to her private chapel below.
The main sanctuary of the cathedral was a jewel box of silver, gilt and precious stones contrasting with four massive white pillars soaring to the dome above. Crossing the eastern end of the church was one of the most beautiful iconostasis in all of Russia, painted by the finest icon painter in Russia and plated with silver covers and revetments from the best artisans of St. Petersburg and Moscow. It was 33 feet high and contained four tiers of saints. Holy convents and monasteries across the country had donated ancient icons, liturgical vessels and relics for the Cathedral, creating both a religious shrine and museum of Old Russian art.
After the revolution the Cathedral continued to operate as a church until it was closed by the Bolshevik Government in 1934. Despite the fact the Feodorovskij Cathedral was considered one of the most important artistic monuments of the 20th Century in Russia, it was converted into storage rooms for the "Lenfilm" studios of Leningrad. Walls were thrown up across the church and all the treasures of the Cathedral were dispersed to museums in the city. Today the Russian Museum, Catherine Palace and Kazan Cathedral contain objects from the Feodorovskij Cathedral.
During the Second World War the Cathedral was heavily damaged by shell fire and marauding German troops. After the war it remained a burned out shell until the late 1980's when Vladimir Patrin, Yuri Alexeyev and the local inhabitants of the town began to restore the church themselves. Soon the crypt chapel was resanctified and now operates as a parish church. The restoration work of the main Cathedral is well underway and is expected to be completed by the year 2000.
Many people feel the Feodorovskij Cathedral is the most appropriate place for the burial of the remains Nickolas II, his family and retainers, which were uncovered in Yekaterinburg. It may be that this would have reflected the personal wishes of the family themselves, who considered this to be their personal church and centre of their spiritual lives.
The church has an eerie presence, as if the murdered Imperial family was somewhere very close, nearby. One senses this immediately upon entering the main door used today and descends the winding stone stair, and then as one enters the crypt where the Romanovs prayed in their private side chapel.
