When they talk about the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, they mean the Moscow temple on Volkhonka. Which was destroyed and then rebuilt. But few people remember that initially he had to stand in a completely different place. However, the original project was never implemented.
In October 1817, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, designed by the architect Alexander Vitberg, was laid on Vorobyovy Gory. In fact, his name was Karl Magnus. His father moved from Sweden to Russia. In the 18th century, many Swedes - Nobels, Lidvali - went to Russia for money and fame. Now the situation, alas, has changed somewhat. Karl entered the Academy of Arts. But he became not an artist, but an architect. Because Alexander I announced a competition for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in memory of the wars with Napoleon.
Mystical building
The young and unknown Vitberg took part in the competition. He designed the temple to be in three parts - just like man, in body, soul and spirit. Like God, who is one in three persons. That is, Vitberg put into his creation not only an architectural, but also a religious idea. “The project was brilliant, terrible, insane,” wrote Herzen, who knew the architect well. In addition, the project was ambitious. Three times more than the current Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Alexander I was delighted with the project of the young architect. Although the competition was attended by the stars of the first magnitude, such as Quarenghi and Voronikhin. The king personally met with Vitberg. And he said: “You have guessed my desire, satisfied my thoughts about this temple. I wished that he was not one heap of stones, like ordinary buildings, but was inspired by some religious idea, but I did not expect to receive any satisfaction."
And at the end of the audience, Alexander added that Vitberg made the stones speak. Where there are stones, there are free masons - Masons. Vitberg was a Freemason. “However, Witberg's program did not contain any specific Masonic ideas and Masonic symbols. The project was based on the ideas of Christianity, in no way contradicting the architectural reading of Orthodoxy by Russian architects of the first third of the 19th century,”reads the official website of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
However, there was a modern researcher from Mozhaisk who dug deeper. He calculated that the total height of the temple should have been 666 English and Russian feet. The side length of the square in which the temple is inscribed is -666 feet, but French. The circumference of the upper temple is 666 yards. Thus, the Vitberg temple expressed "satanic mysticism." That's how vile these Masons are. They encrypted it in such a way that no one could guess for 200 years - neither in Moscow, nor in St. Petersburg. Well at least there were vigilant people in Mozhaisk!
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Let's go back to Witberg. He is at the pinnacle of success. He is given an order. Elected to the Academy of Arts. The architect adopts Orthodoxy, the tsar himself becomes his godfather. Hence the new name of Vitberg - Alexander. And most importantly, Vitberg was appointed the architect of the temple and the head of construction. “Alexander did not know that along with a laurel wreath he also puts on the artist's head of thorns,” Herzen aptly remarked.
Vyatka link
The construction did not go quickly, although Vitberg bought 20 thousand serfs especially for him. And then Alexander I died. The new emperor Nicholas I did not appreciate the mystical ideas of the architect at all. The construction site was closed, and an investigation was put on over its leaders. Contemporaries argued that Vitberg was the most honest man. But reporting was negligent. In addition, he was young and daring, so he quarreled with many influential people.
The investigation lasted several years. As a result, Vitberg was found guilty of embezzlement. His property went under the hammer, and the architect himself went into exile in Vyatka. In Vyatka, he lived with another exiled - Alexander Herzen.
In addition to Herzen, the disgraced architect made friends with the Vyatka governor Tyufyaev. They walked around the city together. By order of the governor, Vitberg designed the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Vyatka. This cathedral was blown up in 1937.
After spending five years in Vyatka, Vitberg returned to St. Petersburg. He procured a pension. He tried unsuccessfully to justify himself. “He completely perished,” writes Herzen, “even his former anger against his enemies, which I loved so much, began to fade away; he had no more hopes, he did nothing to get out of his position … He was waiting for death. And, of course, he waited.
The fate, of course, is tragic. But the question is: what ruined the talented architect - Freemasonry or construction contracts? I think it's still the second. Contracts in Russia are somehow more often ruined.
Gleb Stashkov