Sour cream and onion domes

I've visited so many cathedrals here; it's impossible to come to Russia and not spend half your time gawking at these fabulous structures! They're such a definitive symbol of Russia, especially ones like Saint Basil's in Red Square or Saint Isaac's in Petersburg (photos soon, I promise!). The Orthodox Church really knows how to do it up in style; graceful onion domes and golden crosses on the outside, while on the inside masses of glittering icons, brilliant frescoes, and cavernous domes filled with music and incense (or as Helen so eloquently put it, "the bells and smells!"). Everything is so ornate you cant help but be impressed, if not overwhelmed by the richness of it all. The old story about the origins of Russian Christianity goes that the Muscovite prince Vladimir, after sending out envoys to all the major religions to find out which was the best, was so impressed by the rich churches and ceremonies of the Byzantines that this alone convinced him to convert his people to Orthodox Christianity! Even if the story's a little fanciful, you can understand why he might have!

Although the churches are incredible, it's really sad the condition most of them are in - 70 odd years of neglect and purposeful destruction under the Communists sure took its toll. Most churches in Russia were forced to close under the Soviets, who tried to wipe out the "backward" and "superstitious" influence of religion. One cathedral I visited just down the street from my university, the Temple of the Annunciation (with a stunning gold and silver dome you can see from miles away) was actually turned into a skating rink! A lot of others served similar "practical" purposes during those years; one on Nevsky became a swimming pool with the high-dive up in the apse, another an underwear factory (no joke), and lots were turned into storehouses, stables, community halls, or Young Communist League clubhouses. And it wasn't just churches - Petersburg's sole Bhuddist temple was converted into a laboratory.

Now that the majority have been turned back over to the Orthodox Church since the fall of the Soviet Union, the golden crosses have gone back up, and a massive restoration drive has been going on. Just about every church you see her if covered in scaffolding and green netting, workmen scurrying about patching up the crumbling brickwork and stucco, while artists repaint the obliterated frescos of gold and rich colours that once covered the now white washed interiors. Often you see one of these fantastic churches, with onion domes and amazing exterior decoration, and think wow, it must be twice as incredible inside! When you enter however it's shocking how bare it is - a few icons and candles tended by the ever-present babushki are all that show that this cavernous shell is still alive and on the road to recovery.

I'm sure if I were to come back in 10 or 20 years thing will be much better and the restoration work will have brought them back to some semblance of their former glory. Some of the bigger ones have already been fully restored and are just awesome (like the Kazan Cathedral and the Church-on-Spilt-Blood), but there is a ton of work to be done on a lot of the smaller, more out of the way ones. I went to the Troitsky (Trinity) Cathedral last week and it was in particularily terrible shape; a big fire had torn through the half-restored church in early September, causing the giant middle dome of the church, painted a striking dark blue with gold stars all over, to collapse. The poor old church a rather headless look, but not for long I'm sure.