The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Moscow was the largest of a series of cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

s erected in Imperial Russia in commemoration of Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky

Alexander Nevsky was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military...

, the patron saint of Emperors Alexander II

Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...

 and Alexander III

Alexander III of Russia

Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...

. It was conceived by Alexander Pomerantsev

Alexander Pomerantsev

Alexander Nikanorovich Pomerantsev was a Russian architect and educator responsible for some of the most ambitious architectural projects realized in Imperial Russia and Bulgaria at the turn of the 20th century...

 and Viktor Vasnetsov

Viktor Vasnetsov

Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov , 1848 — Moscow, July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He was described as co-founder of folklorist/romantic modernism in the Russian painting and a key figure of the revivalist movement in Russian art.- Childhood ...

 as a 70-metre-tall memorial to Alexander II's Emancipation reform of 1861

Emancipation reform of 1861

The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia was the first and most important of liberal reforms effected during the reign of Alexander II of Russia. The reform, together with a related reform in 1861, amounted to the liquidation of serf dependence previously suffered by peasants of the Russian Empire...

.

The foundation stone of the votive church was laid on Miusskaya Square (an industrial area in the northwest of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

) in 1911, on the 50th anniversary of the Emancipation Manifesto, in the presence of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Construction did not start in earnest until 1913, and the First World War impeded further progress. The first chapel was dedicated to St. Tikhon of Voronezh in 1915.

After the Russian Revolution, the huge 17-domed church capable of accommodating more than 4,000 persons stood unfinished, while the Soviets debated whether to have it reconstructed into a crematory

Crematory

A crematory is a machine in which cremation takes place. Crematories are usually found in funeral homes, cemeteries, or in stand-alone facilities. A facility which houses the actual cremator units is referred to as a crematorium.-History:Prior to the Industrial Revolution, any cremation which took...

 or a radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 centre. It was the largest church in Moscow after the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The dilapidated concrete shell was eventually torn down in 1952. A Pioneers Palace

Pioneers Palace

Young Pioneer Palaces or Palaces of Young Pioneers and Schoolchildren were youth centers designated for the creative work, sport training and extracurricular activities of Young Pioneers and other schoolchildren...

was raised on the old foundation in 1960.