The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is one of the main landmarks of St. Petersburg, Russia.  It was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded by an assassin.  In 1881 as Tsar Alexander's carriage passed along this area, a bomb thrown by a conspirator exploded.  The tsar was unhurt but got out of his carriage to belittle the culprit.  At this time, a second conspirator threw another bomb, killing himself and mortally wounded the tsar, who was taken to the Winter Palace where he died a few hours later. 

Plans for a permanent memorial  on this spot were initiated and construction on the church-memorial began in 1883.  It was completed in 1907 and funding was provided by the Imperial family and many private donors.   The architect for the memorial was Alfred Alexandrovich Parland.  The design was so lavish that, not surprisingly,  it went way over budget by 1 million rubles.  The walls and ceilings inside the church are completely covered in detailed mosaics - they say more than any other church in the world.  (The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis might disagree with this).

Architecturally the church differs from St. Petersburg's other structures, which are predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical.  The Savior on Blood goes back to the Romantic and intentionally resembles the celebrated St. Basil's in Moscow.  It is crowned with nine (9) brightly decorated onion domes in white, green, yellow, and blue with diagonal stripes of dazzling different patterns.

In 1930 the cathedral was closed to be used as a warehouse for over 40 years.  In 1971  following decades of abuse and neglect during the Soviet era, restoration was begun.  It took 27 years and the memorial reopened in 1997 with all its dazzling, former glory restored.  It has not been re-consecrated and  does not function as a full time place of worship.  Thus, it's now considered a "Museum of Mosaics".