The Church on the Blood is the most famous and beautiful temple in Yekaterinburg and is one of the most popular attractions in the city.

The temple was built in 2000-2003 on the site where the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family were shot on the night of July 16-17, 1918

In 1917, after the February Revolution and abdication, the former Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family were exiled to Tobolsk by decision of the Provisional Government.

In the photo, Nicholas II with his daughters in Tobolsk

In view of the advance of the Czechoslovak Corps and the White Siberian Army on the Eastern Front, the Bolsheviks decided to hastily carry out the execution in Yekaterinburg, where the Royal Family was transported at that time. In Yekaterinburg, a large stone mansion, confiscated from engineer Nikolai Ipatiev, was chosen as the place of imprisonment for Nicholas II and his family.

in the photo is the house of engineer Ipatiev

On the night of July 17, 1918, in the basement of this house, Emperor Nicholas II, along with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, children and close associates, were shot, and after that their bodies were taken to the abandoned Ganina Yama mine.

After the October Revolution, the Ipatiev House was occupied at different times by various high-ranking officials and government agencies, but this did not stop it from being a unique landmark of the city and constantly attracted the attention of people, even to the point of pilgrimage.

It was this attention that led to the fact that in 1977, on the recommendation of KGB Chairman Yu. V. Andropov, the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted a resolution on the demolition of the house. The official justification was the need to expand the Karl Liebknecht Street adjacent directly to the house. On September 22, 1977, on the orders of B.N. Yeltsin, the house was destroyed.

The photo shows the process of demolition of Ipatiev's house

Yeltsin would later write in his memoirs:

...sooner or later we will all be ashamed of this barbarity. It will be a shame, but nothing can be fixed...

Even after the destruction of the Ipatiev house, the idea of ​​pilgrimage to the sacred place did not disappear. After the start of Perestroika, believers began to gather more and more often in the vacant lot where Ipatiev’s house once stood. The very first, still spontaneous, meetings were dispersed by the police, but this was carried out rather by inertia.

On August 18, 1990, the first wooden cross was installed on the mournful site, but two weeks later it was desecrated by attackers. A second one appeared, then a third, this time metal. On September 20, 1990, the Presidium of the Sverdlovsk City Council and the Executive Committee decided to allocate a land plot to the Sverdlovsk Diocesan Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church and allow the installation of a memorial symbol on the site where the house of engineer Ipatiev previously stood.

An open competition was announced for the development of a design for a memorial temple on the site of Ipatiev’s former house and the development of the surrounding area. The competition was supposed to be completed by the July anniversary of the execution. The winner of the competition was Kurgan architect Konstantin Efremov. The temple project looked like this:

Three months later, on September 23, 1992, the first stone was laid for the construction of the temple by Archbishop Melchizedek of Verkhoturye and Yekaterinburg. Online publications also widely disseminate information about September 21, 1991, as the day the first stone was laid. However, the construction of the cathedral according to Efremov’s design was not destined to happen, since almost immediately after the laying of the first symbolic stone, construction stopped.

Only in 2000, after the glorification of Nicholas II and his family at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, the actual construction of the temple began at the site of the execution. The design of the future temple has also changed. The new project, the authors of which were architects V.P. Morozov, V.Yu. Grachev and the chief architect of the region G.V. Mazaev, was approved by the town planning council of Yekaterinburg and the Diocese. According to the official version, the reason for the rejection of K. Efremov’s project was the reluctance of the author himself to take into account the comments of the town planning council and make changes to his work. The new temple project looked like this:

When designing, the plan of the future temple was superimposed on the plan of the demolished Ipatiev house in such a way as to create an analogue of the room where the Royal Family was shot. At the lower level of the temple, a symbolic place for this execution was provided.
The Church on the Blood is a five-domed structure with a height of 60 meters and a total area of ​​3000 m. The architecture of the structure is designed in the neo-Byzantine style. The vast majority of churches were built in this style during the reign of Nicholas II. According to the architects, it should symbolize the connection of times, the revival of the Orthodox tradition. The complex includes two temples: lower and upper.

The Church on the Blood includes, among other things, an execution room with the authentic remains of the Ipatiev House structure present, and its altar is located next to the direct site of the execution of the Royal Family. There is also a museum here, the exhibits of which are dedicated to the last days of the life of the Romanov family, as well as an auditorium with 160 seats.

The photo shows the altar of the execution room

The ensemble of the temple includes a monument to the Royal Family. This is a seven-figure composition representing the tragic moment of the descent of Nicholas II and his family into the basement of the Ipatiev house to be shot. According to the plans of the authors: sculptor K.V. Grunberg and A.G. Mazaev, the son of the chief architect of the Sverdlovsk region G.V. Mazaev, the monument is encountered on the path of everyone entering the temple and involuntarily reminds of the events that took place here.

At the moment, the Church on the Blood is not only a functioning cathedral, but also a museum complex at the same time. The museum part displays a number of exhibits dedicated to the last months of the life of the family of Emperor Nicholas II and his family. The church operates a Sunday parochial school for children aged 6 years and older, and also conducts Bible courses for everyone.

The Patriarchal Metochion, built and consecrated together with the temple, includes the patriarchal chambers itself, the house church of St. Nicholas, a library, as well as a number of halls and premises for holding various high-level church events.

Every year on the night of July 16-17 from 23.30 to 04.00, a multi-hour all-night vigil and liturgy in memory of the Royal Family is held in the temple, which ends with a traditional 25-kilometer religious procession to Ganina Yama. In 2007, more than 20 thousand believers from all over Russia took part in the ceremonial events. And in 2008, in connection with the 90th anniversary of the murder of the Royal Family, about 40 thousand people took part in the procession.

The territory on which the Church on the Blood, the Elizabeth Chapel, the Patriarchal Compound, as well as the Ascension Church are located, according to the order of the head of Yekaterinburg A. M. Chernetsky, was named "Holy Quarter"

In the famous Church on the Blood, located on the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal, I admired its extraordinary architecture, beauty and grace for a long time.

After some time, upon returning to Moscow, a desire arose to visit the cities of Yekaterinburg and Uglich, where the churches of the same name are located.

The Church on the Blood in Yekaterinburg was built quite recently, in 2003, while the Uglich temple was already six centuries old.

Of course, the journey to Yekaterinburg by car was a long one and several days had to be devoted to this journey, while there was a lot to do on the official line. But in the end, the desire to see the Ekaterinburg Church on the Blood with my own eyes prevailed and a long-awaited man-made break appeared in work, and it was decided to devote this free time to a trip to Ekaterinburg.

A reliable Ford took me to the fourth most populous city in Russia from Moscow and back, regularly clocking up another three and a half thousand kilometers on the speedometer. True, in Yekaterinburg we had to replace the fuel filter, but this procedure took only half an hour, which did not in any way affect the trip itself.

After construction, the Church-Monument on the Blood in the name of All Saints who shone in the Russian land in Yekaterinburg became one of the largest churches in the city. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that immediately after the opening, the temple attracted many pilgrims from all over Russia and from other countries.

The Church on the Blood in Yekaterinburg became the third church on the blood in Russia (the expression on the blood indicates the blood of the king).

I managed to get to the ancient Russian city of Uglich, founded back in 937, only six months after my trip to Yekaterinburg.

The Church of Tsarevich Dimitri “on the Blood” in Uglich was built on the very spot where on May 15, 1591, the life of the last Uglich prince, Tsarevich Dimitri, the son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, was cut short. Located on the very bank of the Volga River on the territory of the Ulichsky Kremlin, not far from

Starting from the late 80s, the idea of ​​the need to perpetuate the memory of the innocently murdered family of the last Russian Emperor crystallized more and more clearly in society. The veneration of the holy place continued. People brought flowers and lit candles.

On July 16, 1989, the first open prayer service took place at the Tsar’s Place, or rather, the canon to the Holy Royal Martyrs was read. According to the recollection of Archbishop Melchizedek: “... People came on their own, “without a guide or organizer,” they came ... at the behest of their hearts.” On the same day, for the first time, a memorial service was openly served for the innocently murdered Family of the last Russian Emperor. The memorial service was served by priests of the Moscow Patriarchate, who came specially from Moscow. Thus, the veneration of the Royal Passion-Bearers in the Urals became open.

On September 23, 1992, at the site of the future Church on the Blood, a ceremonial laying of a stone with a capsule containing a particle of the newly discovered relics of St. Righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye took place. The laying of the stone was carried out by Archbishop Melchizedek after the Divine Liturgy and procession from the Church of the Ascension to the Royal Cross. Concelebrating with Bishop Melchizedek were: Archbishop of Penza and Kuznetsk Seraphim, Bishop of Chelyabinsk and Chrysostom Georgy.

On that memorable day, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, in his address regarding the laying of the stone, said: “Let the Temple-Monument, like an unquenchable candle, rise on Ascension Hill in Yekaterinburg and become an eternal memory of all those innocently killed”.

At the end of September 1992, the Orthodox Brotherhood was created in the name of the Holy Royal Martyrs, the purpose of which was to build the Church of the Blood and carry out work to discover in the area of ​​​​Ganina Yama that very “open mine” where the bodies of the Royal Passion-Bearers were destroyed. On October 13, 1992, Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya - Romanova, the wife of Tikhon Nikolaevich Kulikovsky - Romanov, the nephew of the Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich, visited Yekaterinburg for the first time. Olga Nikolaevna took an active part in issues related to the construction of the Church on the Blood.

On July 16, 1993, at night, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Royal Cross. The altar was the chapel of the Venerable Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. About 100 people attended the service. Thus was born the annual tradition of celebrating the Divine Liturgy precisely at the hour of the murder of the Tsar and His August Family with their faithful servants.

On July 19, 1993, with the blessing of Lord Melchizedek, the first community of the future Temple on the Blood was formed. A.M. was chosen as the head of the community. Verkhovsky, his deputy Yu.A. Shumilov.

From the beginning of 1994, the reading of the akathist to the Tsar-Martyr began at the Royal Cross. Archpriest Vasily Semenov performed the prayer services. In March 1994, Vladika Nikon (Mironov) took the place of Lord Melchizedek. In May 1994, Vladyka Nikon blessed the brotherhood in the name of the Holy Royal Martyrs to build a temporary wooden temple over the site of the foundation stone of the future Church of the Blood.

On February 21, 1997, a town planning council was held, at which V. Morozov’s project was first mentioned, which was later revised by the chief architect of the region G.V. Mazaev will be implemented. The project of the Temple - Monument on the Blood was developed by Uralenergostroyproekt in 1997 - 1998. commissioned by the Yekaterinburg Diocesan Administration. Work on the project was carried out by a team of architects, engineers and other specialists, under the leadership of: GAP Likina I.D., Morozov V.P., Efremova V.P., Gracheva Yu.Ya. Also used were design materials from the Yekaterinburg Diocesan Administration, completed under the leadership of K.V. Efremov; also materials provided by the architect Dolgov A.V. and sculptor K.V. Grunberg

When developing the engineering and design sections of the project, materials and information on the project of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior complex in Moscow, kindly provided by the chief engineer and chief architect of the Moscow complex, were used.

In April 1997, Voznesenskaya Gorka was given the status of the Bishop's Compound. In November 1997, the Government of the Sverdlovsk Region issued a Decree “On the construction of the Temple - a monument on the Blood in the name of All Saints who have shone in the Russian land.” In August 1999, the Diocese welcomed its new Ruling Bishop - Vladyka Vincent. From November 10 to November 22, 1999 (with the blessing of Archbishop Vincent) a scientific group led by Professor V.M. Slukin, geophysical research work was carried out on the site of the Ipatiev House.

On December 12, 1999, the Tsar’s Place was visited by the myrrh-streaming icon of the Tsar - Passion-Bearer Nikolai Alexandrovich.

On April 3, 2000, preparatory work began on the construction of the future Church on the Blood. The Royal Cross was moved closer to the Elizabeth Chapel. Alas! But it was necessary to cut down the trees that witnessed the walks of the Royal Passion-Bearers and witnessed the tragedy. When they made a cut at their base, the age of the poplars turned out to be almost 100 years!

Since June 2000, with the permission of the authorities and with the blessing of Bishop Vincent, excavations began to be carried out at the Tsar’s Place. All that remains of the Ipatiev House are fragments from the basement “execution” room: bricks, foundation stones, beams, but the historical site on which the Church of the Blood was erected is clearly recorded in the documents.

From August 13 to 16, 2000, the Anniversary Council of Bishops took place in Moscow, at which, finally, what the Orthodox people had been waiting for for so long happened! The entire murdered Royal Family was glorified in the ranks of the holy PASSION-BEARERS.

On September 22, 2000, for the first time in the history of the Yekaterinburg Diocese, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexy II, visited Yekaterinburg.

September 23, 2000 His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II solemnly laid the foundation of a commemorative capsule with a Commemorative Certificate on the consecration of the construction site in the eastern wall of the foundation of the future Church on the Blood. The Certificate was signed by: Patriarch Alexy II, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President for the Urals Federal District P.M. Latyshev, Archbishop Vikenty, Regional Governor E.E. Rossel and Head of Yekaterinburg A.M. Chernetsky.

On April 16, 2001, the zero cycle of the Church on the Blood was completed. The Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye performed a prayer service for the beginning of construction of the above-ground part of the Church on the Blood. Present at the construction site were: Regional Governor E.E. Rossel, Head of Yekaterinburg A.M. Chernetsky, First Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President for the Urals Federal District V. Tumanov, Chairman of the Regional Government A. Vorobyov, Chairman of the Regional Duma E. Porunov, as well as entrepreneurs and Ural industrialists providing financial assistance for the construction of the Church on the Blood. Then the ceremony of laying the first bricks in the wall of the future cathedral took place, which was performed by Vladyka Vincent and Eduard Rossel.

On May 6, 2001, Bishop Vincent served an Easter prayer service in the lower aisle of the Church on the Blood, next to the “execution” room. May 19, 2001 After the prayer service at the Royal Cross, a religious procession left Yekaterinburg: “From the Ipatiev House to the Ipatiev Monastery.” Participants must cover 1,600 km before reaching the city of Kostroma.

June 03, 2001 His Holiness the Patriarch blessed the project for the construction of a spiritual and educational Center at the Church on the Blood, as well as the Patriarchal Metochion.

On October 6, 2002, Bishop Vikenty consecrated small bells made with donations from the singer, author and performer Alexander Novikov.

December 2002. The installation of a unique faience iconostasis for the lower aisle of the Church on the Blood has begun. All elements of the iconostasis were made at the Sysert porcelain factory and made using special technology. The project was developed by the Terem architectural studio. January 8, 2003. In the lower aisle of the Church of the Blood, the iconostasis has already been installed, marble floors have been laid, and most of the finishing work has been completed.

At the end of January 2003, the installation of the iconostasis of the upper church began. The iconostasis will be made of white marble, its dimensions: 28 m - length, 13 m - height, 0.7 m - depth. All work was carried out by specialists from JSC Koelgamramor. On May 5, 2003, Bishop Vincent consecrated a 3-ton bell, which was then raised to the belfry of the Church of the Blood. May 15, 2003. The last, largest 5-ton bell was raised to the belfry. On May 27, 2003, Bishop Vincent consecrated the largest cross for the main dome of the Church on the Blood. Its height is 10 m.

May 28, 2003 At the Church on the Blood they began installing the sculptural composition “The Royal Passion-Bearers a few minutes before the execution” by Konstantin Grunberg. June 29, 2003 is the day of All Saints in the Russian Land, the patronal feast of the Church on the Blood. For the first time, at the same time, a religious procession emerged from all the central churches of Yekaterinburg, which approached the Church on the Blood at 13 o’clock, where a prayer service was held for all the saints of the Russian land.

On July 10, 2003, in the evening, Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya - Romanova arrived in Yekaterinburg for the Tsar’s Days. On this visit, she fulfilled the request of her late husband Tikhon Nikolaevich to transfer the icon of the Mother of God “Three-Handed” to the Church on the Blood, erected on the site of the death of the Royal Passion-Bearers.

The Royal Family prayed in front of this icon in the last days of their earthly life. By the providence of God it turned out that the image of the Mother of God “Three-Handed” arrived for the evening service on July 11, i.e. on the day when the feast of the “Three-Handed” Icon of the Mother of God is on the church calendar. The icon was taken by procession to the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

On July 12, 2003, an act of the state commission was signed on the acceptance into operation of the Church on the Blood. On July 16, 2003, during the Divine Liturgy, the upper aisle of the penitential Church of the Blood in the name of All the Shining Saints in the Russian Land was consecrated.

The consecration of the Temple was attended by: Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsa and Kolomna, Metropolitan Sergius of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk, Archbishop Vincent of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, Archbishop Platon of Argentina and South America, Archbishop Nikon of Ufa and Sterlitamak, Bishop Mikhail of Kurgan and Shadrinsk, Bishop Irinarch of Perm and Solikamsk . About 70 clergy served with the archpastors.

For the consecration of the Temple - the Monument on the Blood, a religious procession from Tobolsk arrived with icons of St. John of Tobolsk and the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers. The penitential procession from Volgograd also arrived. In total, about 10,000 people gathered for the consecration of the Church on the Blood, both local residents and pilgrims and guests.

Among the eminent guests were: Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Also present were the head of the region, Governor E.E. Rossel, and the Chairman of the Regional Government, A.P. Vorobyov, Head of Yekaterinburg A.M. Chernetsky, Ural industrialists and businessmen, under whose care the temple was built.

Before the consecration, the icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of His relics, which had recently arrived in Yekaterinburg from the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, was transferred to the Church on the Blood from the Holy Trinity Cathedral. It is noteworthy that the Church on the Blood was consecrated exactly 100 years after the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov. One involuntarily recalls the words of the Reverend again: “The Sovereign who glorifies me, I will glorify him too.” On the night of July 16-17, the first Divine Liturgy took place in the consecrated Church of the Blood, after which, in a procession of the Cross, all participants in the Liturgy (about 7,000 people) went to Ganina Yama - the place where the bodies of the Royal Passion-Bearers and their faithful servants were destroyed.

At 7 o’clock in the morning the Divine Liturgy was served in the lower aisle of the Church of the Blood in the “execution” room. After the consecration in the Church on the Blood, regular services immediately began. Thus, a completely new period of life began in the Royal Place: in the Temple of the Blood in the name of All the Shining Saints in the Russian Land.

From this moment on, the Church on the Blood becomes, of course, the most prominent central church not only of the city, but of the entire Diocese. It attracts the attention of both the Russian and world communities.

The Church on the Blood is one of the largest churches in Yekaterinburg, always attracting many pilgrims and tourists from all over Russia and from other countries. Immediately after construction, it became one of the main excursion sites in Yekaterinburg. The full official name of the temple is the Church on the Blood in the name of All Saints who shone in the Russian land.

It became the third Church on Blood in Russia. The first was built in Uglich on the site of the murder of Tsarevich Dmitry, the second in St. Petersburg on the site where the Tsar-Liberator Alexander II was killed from serfdom.

This temple was built from 2000 to 2003 on the site of the infamous Ipatiev House that previously stood here. It was in the house of engineer Ipatiev, confiscated by the Bolsheviks, that the family of the last emperor was kept for several months (to be precise, 78 days), and on the night of July 17, 1918, they were shot in the basement of this house. After the massacre of Nicholas II and his family, the Bolsheviks first dumped their bodies into a mine on Ganina Yama, and then, a day later, they hid them more securely - under a log flooring in Porosenkovo ​​Log on the old Koptyakovskaya road.

On September 22, 1977, Ipatiev’s house was demolished. Moreover, the demolition of the house was led by B.N. Yeltsin. When the totalitarian regime began to weaken and democratic trends appeared in the country, people increasingly began to appear at the place of execution of the Romanovs. In 1990, the first wooden worship cross was installed here. Soon a small wooden chapel was built, named in honor of the Martyr Elizabeth. A stone was placed in front of her with words carved on it, reminiscent of the tragedy of 1918.

In 2000, active work began on the construction of a temple in such a tragic place. The temple was built according to the design of architects V.P. Morozova, V.Yu. Gracheva and G.V. Mazaeva. The temple was consecrated in front of a large crowd of pilgrims on the eve of the next anniversary of the tragic events - July 16, 2003.

The Church on the Blood was built in the Russian-Byzantine style, has five domes, its height is 60 meters. There are 14 bells on the bell tower of the temple, the largest of which weighs as much as five tons! The temple consists of upper and lower rooms. In the lower church they tried to recreate the room in which the Romanovs were executed. The “execution room” has been recreated next to the altar. There is a small museum here that tells about the last days of the life of the royal family.

If the lower temple is low and dark, then the upper, main one, on the contrary, is light and cheerful. There is a unique iconostasis made of a rare breed of white marble. Its length is 30 meters and height is 13 meters. The main shrines of this temple are the shrine of St. Seraphim of Sarov and the “Three-Handed” icon of the Mother of God. The fact that this temple is built on blood is reminiscent of the external cladding of the religious building with red and burgundy granite.

If you look closely, you can see that along the outer perimeter of the temple there are 48 icons of the most revered Russian saints, made of bronze. On the side of Tolmacheva Street near the temple there is a monument to the Royal Family. According to the authors of the sculpture, it shows the moment the last emperor’s family descended into the basement to be shot.

Every year on the night of July 16-17 (the anniversary of the execution of the Romanovs), services are held in the Church on the Blood in memory of the victims, after which a procession of the cross takes place to the monastery on Ganina Yama. Sometimes up to several tens of thousands of people from all over Russia take part in it. Despite the beauty and popularity of the Church on the Blood, the church treats it more like a museum, a memorial reminiscent of the tragedy. All the most important services in Yekaterinburg are held in another - Holy Trinity - church.

A visit to the Church on the Blood is included in the most popular pilgrimage route. It is also worth visiting the monastery located near Yekaterinburg on Ganina Yama. There is another tragic point in the Sverdlovsk region associated with the massacre of the Romanovs. Near the city of Alapaevsk there is a monastery on the site of the Mezhnaya mine, where in the same 1918 they dealt with the Romanov princes who were held under arrest in Alapaevsk.

The Church-Monument on the Blood was erected on the site of the martyrdom of Emperor Nicholas II, his August Family, their faithful companions and friends.

By the providence of God, the place of the martyrdom of the Royal Family became a place long prayed for by our ancestors. In the 1760s a wooden church was built here in honor of the Ascension of the Lord. In 1789, the pious parishioners of the temple wanted to build a new stone two-story church on the top of the hill, where the commander’s house of Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev had previously been located. In 1792, a stone church in honor of the Ascension of the Lord was founded, and in 1818 it was consecrated. The wooden church was moved to Nizhne-Isetsk.

On the site of the Old Ascension Church, a residential wooden house was built in the 1870s. - a stone two-story mansion, and on the site of the altar a chapel was erected in honor of the prophet of God Elijah. The murder of the Emperor, his Family and servants was committed in the basement of the southern wing of this house, on the site where the temple in honor of the Ascension of the Lord previously stood.

In 1908, this house No. 49/9, located on the corner of Voznesensky Prospekt and Voznesensky Lane, was bought by military civil engineer N.N. Ipatiev.

April 27, 1918 N.N. Ipatiev was offered to vacate the house within 48 hours due to the housing problem in the city. The house was surrounded by a double fence, higher in height than the windows on the second floor, with a single gate, in front of which a sentry was constantly on duty. There were two guard posts between the double fence and eight outside. Machine guns were installed in the attics of neighboring buildings. This is how the house was prepared for the arrival of the Royal Family.

On April 30, 1918, Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna were brought to the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg under escort. On May 23, 1918, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and Heir Tsarevich Alexei arrived from Tobolsk.

On July 14, 1918, the priest of the Catherine Cathedral, Archpriest John Storozhev, and Deacon Vasily Buimirov celebrated the last mass.

On the night of July 4 (old style) / July 17 (new style), 1918, in the basement room of the Ipatiev House, a terrible crime occurred that turned the course of world history. The Anointed of God - Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Heir Tsarevich Alexei, Tsarevnas Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and faithful royal companions and friends were tortured and killed: Doctor Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin, room girl Anna Stepanovna Demidova, footman Alexey Egorovich Trupp and cook Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov.

In 1919, Ipatiev’s house was municipalized and became the property of the Republic. Over the years, the building housed: an army headquarters, a dormitory and apartments for senior military ranks, an archival department dealing with the history of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the Ural Museum of Revolution, an anti-religious museum and the Regional Council of Atheists. The relics of the holy righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye, especially revered by the Royal Family, were kept here.

In the 1920s They demolished the chapel of the Holy Prophet Elijah that stood in front of the house.

During the Great Patriotic War, exhibits from the Hermitage collection, which were evacuated from Leningrad, were stored in the house. In the seventies, the building housed the Training Center for Cultural Workers and the city agency Soyuzpechat.

In September 1977 the house was demolished.

The first open prayer for the murdered Royal Family was held on July 16, 1989, twelve years after the demolition of the Ipatiev House.

On September 20, 1990, the City Council decided to transfer the land plot on Voznesenskaya Gorka to the Yekaterinburg diocese. In October 1990, the Royal Cross was installed at the site of the murder of the Royal Family.

In 1991, on the days of remembrance of the August Martyrs (“Royal Days” - that’s how they began to be called among the people), for the first time since 1919, a religious procession was held in the city from the Church of the Ascension to the Tsar’s Place, where Archbishop Melchizedek of Sverdlovsk and Kurgan celebrated a great funeral service for innocently killed.

In the summer of 1992, next to the place where the Ipatiev House stood, a chapel was built in the name of the Reverend Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. In the spring of 1992, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Elizaveta Fedorovna and nun Varvara as holy martyrs. In 2000, they were included in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.

On September 23, 1992, at the site of the future Temple on the Blood, Bishop Melchizedek performed a solemn laying of a stone with a particle of the holy relics of the righteous Simeon of Verkhoturye.

On December 28, 1993, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, testified: “Our people, going through trials imposed by God for the sins of apostasy, regicide and civil unrest, and repenting of these sins, needs a visible sign of repentance” and blessed the construction in Yekaterinburg of the Church-Monument on the Blood in the name of All the Shining Saints in the Russian Land.

In 1994, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in a temporary church.

In August 2000, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, held in Moscow, the glorification of the holy royal passion-bearers took place in the Council of New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

On September 23, 2000, during a visit to the Ekaterinburg diocese, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II solemnly laid a capsule with a commemorative letter about the consecration of the construction site at the foundation of the temple.

On June 3, 2001, His Holiness the Patriarch blessed the project for the construction of a spiritual and educational center at the Church-Monument on the Blood.

On July 16, 2003, the consecration of the Upper Church took place in the name of All Saints who shone in the Russian land.

On October 12, the shrine of St. Seraphim of Sarov with a particle of his relics from the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery arrived at the Church-Monument on the Blood. It is noteworthy that the Church-Monument on the Blood was consecrated exactly one hundred years after the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, who said: “The Sovereign who glorifies me, I will glorify.”

Before the start of the Divine Liturgy, Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova solemnly transferred to the temple the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Three-Handed”, before which the Royal Family prayed in the Ipatiev House.

On the night of July 16-17, 2003, a Divine Liturgy took place in the Church-Monument on the Blood, after which all participants in the service went in a procession to Ganina Yama - the place where the bodies of the Royal Passion-Bearers and their faithful companions were destroyed.

On April 18, 2010, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' performed the great consecration of the lower church in honor of the new martyrs and confessors of the Russian Church.

On July 15, 2013, Metropolitan Kirill, the ruling bishop of the Yekaterinburg diocese, consecrated the throne of the chapel of the holy royal passion-bearers at the site of the murder of the holy Royal Family.

On February 7, 2016, the glorification of Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin, a doctor of the Royal Family, who was killed in Yekaterinburg, took place in the place where the Church-Monument on the Blood now stands.

Today, the Church-Monument on the Blood is a place of pilgrimage for believers not only from Russia, but also from all over the world.