Church of the Spilled Blood

Officially named the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, but better known as the Church of Spilled Blood, this instantly recognizable attraction sits by the Griboyedova Canal on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. The Russian Revival–style architecture and bright candy-colored rooftops stand out against the mainly Baroque and Neo-Classical buildings of St. Petersburg and make it (understandably) one of the city’s most popular sights. However, this wasn’t always the case and the building spent half a century as a warehouse and, under Bolshevik rule, as the Museum of People’s Will in celebration of the assassination. There have been arguments over the past century in favor of tearing the building down, as some find the building “too Russian” in style.

For many visitors, photographing the building from the outside is the main event (there is a good vantage point from the small bridge over Griboyedova Canal), but inside are extravagant mosaics based on popular 19^th-century art that were painstakingly restored in the 1990s.