Blog about Urals

We’d like to tell you about the most famous and historically significant place in Yekaterinburg – the Church on the Blood. This place is a shrine where the pilgrims from all over Russia gather.

The Church was built on the site of the house of engineer Ipatieff, where the royal family Nikolai II, his wife, sun and four daughters were assassinated and the 300 year old monarchy of the Romanov dynasty came to an end.

In April 1918 because of the onset of white army the Ural Regional Council (Urals Bolsheviks – Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party) decided to confiscate the house to carry out a hasty assassination over the royal family in it.

Yakov Yurowski was appointed a commandant of the house. He offered to invite the royal family into the basement in pretence of giving them a shelter, then he told them that «their friends» (the white army) were coming up and therefore they are sentenced to death, the shootings followed.

The bodies were rolled in blankets and thrown into the truck, waiting outside the house. The truck drove into the woods in the region called Ganya’s pit (“Ganina Yama”). Bolsheviks stripped the bodies and burned the clothing. Then the bodies were supposed to be thrown down into the flooded mine, but it turned out that the water had frozen. It was decided to use other mines the ones closer to the Yekaterinburg.

The truck with the bodies drove back to Yekaterinburg along the Koptyakosky road. But on the way to the mines the truck got stuck in a swamp. The night was on its off and Yurovsky came an idea to bury the bodies under the side of the road in the swamp. To hide the burial place they decided to erect a kind of bridge from sleepers over it so that the off-road could be passed.

The cruel assassination crumbled the foundations on which our Orthodox realm stood for century. The cathedral oath of eternal loyalty, given by people of Russian State to the Romanov’s dynasty in 1613, was broken. Those days, St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow said: «A terrible thing is done – Tsar Nikolai Aleksandrovich was assassinated. We must condemn this matter; otherwise the blood of the assassinated will fall on us.»

With time the house of Ipatieff become a pilgrimage place and each 17th of July flowers were put in front of the house in memory of the royal family. But later in 1977 the house was destroyed by the decree of Yeltsin.

However, even after the destruction the idea of pilgrimage to the holy place wasn’t lost. At the wasteland, where once the house of Ipatief stood, faithful people began to gather.

In August 2000, it’s been accomplished what the Orthodox Russian people were waiting for so many years. At the Bishops’ Council Jubilee, held in Moscow, the royal family was canonized and on the site of assassination the construction of the temple started.

On the 16th of July 2003 the temple was consecrated and opened. This night the five-hour church service was carried in the temple in memory of Nicholas II and his family.

By various estimates from 7 to 8 thousand people attended it. The service was led by Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhotursk Vincent. After the service, at 05.10 a.m. in the morning, a column of 50 clerics, led by Bishop Vikenty, went in procession to the monastery located at Ganya’s Pit. As noted by witnesses, chanting, that accompanied the orthodox way, could be heard several blocks from the moving column. The procession, which was also attended by about 8 thousand people, arrived at the monastery at Ganya’s Pit at 09. 30 a.m.

At the inlet to the Church you can see a big monument representing the descent of 7 people – Nikolai and his family into the basement. Externally, the building is in white and purple colors, recalling the blood spilled here, the facade is decorated with icons of Russian saints.

The church consists of two temples: the lower and upper one. The upper temple symbolizes the ever-burning lamp in memory of the tragic events. It’s a spacious room lit up with plenty of sunshine. The iconostasis is inside, and from the aperture of a door you can see the place of execution of the royal family.

The lower temple is situated at the place where the basement of Ipatieff house stood and is made in a more restrained style. Here is a museum dedicated to the last days of life of the Romanovs, you can see the remains from Ipatieff house.

Inside the temple a guide will meet you and led to the scene of the assassination decorated with icons and show you the miraculous icon depicting the holy royal family.

You can go outside to have a little walk around the Church. You can see a small wooden chapel, a greatmartyr Elizabeth chapel built before the main building – and is unique monument of Christian resistance that has withstood after numerous vandalism arsons.

You can also see the patriarchal farmstead that includes the proper patriarchal rooms, chapel of Saint Nicholas, a library, as well as a number of halls and rooms for various church activities of high level.

Nowadays on the territory of the church there is a parochial school for children where the bible courses are held. And Every year on the night of 16 to 17 July 11.30 p.m. to 04.00 a.m. a many hours Liturgy in memory of the royal family is carried out in the church, which is completed with the traditional 25-kilometer procession to Ganya’s Pit.