Church on the spilled blood

This is the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood here in St Petersburg. A Russian Orthodox Church from the late 1890s it is redolent both of orthodox Christian symbolism, but also the symbolism of the Tsar as the father of his people.

Tsar Alexander III was apparently passing the future site of the church when an anarchist threw a grenade at his carriage. It exploded, but the Tsar was uninjured. He got out of his carriage to remonstrate with the culprit, showing either considerable courage, or enormous stupidity - depending on your perspective. He was then mortally wounded when a second conspirator seeing his chance threw a second bomb.

The church was subsequently erected on the spot , and it includes a shrine enclosing the section of road where the assassination took place. As you can see, the church itself is elaborately decorated in mosaic Russian Orthodox iconic style.

The Russians are getting ready to celebrate 9th May - Victory Day - which marks the end of WWII. It's their second most important holiday. Russians say that there is no Russian family that did not lose at least one family member in the war. We call the war World War II. The Russians call it the great patriotic war. They lost somewhere between 20,000,000 and 40,000,000 people. Yes, you read that correctly, more than any other single nation.

On Saturday 9th May most Russians will wear an orange and black striped ribbon symbolising the Russian Order of St George as a direct link to those past events. For many it is a sacred ritual.

Unfortunately those colours have also been adopted by the pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine.

Symbols can indeed be powerful things.