The main Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is a spiritual symbol of Russia, glorifying the victory of life over death.
Construction was completed on May 9, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory.
The cathedral is located in the Patriot Park in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region, 40 miles west of Moscow.
The proportions of the temple contain encrypted significant numbers and dates from Russian history.
The height of the cathedral is 96 meters.
The diameter of the dome is 22.43 meters. The act of unconditional surrender was signed at 22:43
The diameter of the drum with 8 windows is 19.45 meters. The end of the Great Patriotic War in 1945.
The height of the small domes are 14.18 meters. The Great Patriotic War lasted 1418 days.
The height of the belfry is 75 meters
75 Years ago, on May 8, 1945, at 10:43 p.m., the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. The war that lasted 1,418 days and nights ended.
Exactly 75 years after the great victory, this temple was erected to immortalize its significance in the history of Russia.
For the first time, the temple was built from glass and metal. The dome of the temple was designed in the shape of the helmet of the holy blessed prince Alexander Nevsky.
The temple was built with voluntary donations from 94, 360 individuals, and 1,217 organizations. While the cathedral was intended to be funded entirely by donations, a significant portion, around $40 million of the estimated total cost of $86 million dollars, came from the Kremlin budget.
51,567 people took part in the construction of the temple.
The main icon of the temple is the Savior Not Made By Hands, painted on wooden boards from the gun carriage of an 8-pound cast-iron cannon from 1710, raised from the bottom of the Neva River.
The icon travelled more than 57 thousand kilometers, visited 45 cities, churches and military units and returned to Moscow to find its place in the Maine Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Elements of the interior decoration are based on the theme of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
18 bells were cast at the Voronezh Foundry. The largest weighs four tons, and the smallest weighs 8 kg.
The best artists and sculptors of Russia worked on the decoration of the temple which contains images of the most important battles of the Great Patriotic War. Craftsmen in Yaroslavl painted the icons depicting the patron saints of the Russian army.
Teachers and students of the Sergei Andriaka Academy created 40 stained glass windows depicting military awards. The main one is the “Order of Victory,” where the effect of the sky over the Kremlin is recreated using glass chips.
This is an immense complex with a museum that is not yet completed. We were there on the weekend after the May 9th celebrations along with thousands of Russians.
I have seen St. Peter’s Cathedral and the magnificent basilicas of Rome, some of Europe's magnificent basilicas, including the The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and Notre-Dame de Paris, but this Cathedral is something else not only because of its massive size and unique architecture, but because of the combination of religious and military symbolism.
It is just the latest of countless magnificent buildings and monuments memorializing moments throughout Russia’s history. It stands as another symbol of patriotism, victory over foreign invaders, and the powerful influence of Christianity on this amazing country.
Over the centuries Russia has been invaded by the Swedes, Napoleon, the French, Brits, the Ottoman Turks and Sardinia in the Crimean War, and again in WWI and WWII. In all of these wars Russia has lost tens of millions of soldiers and civilians. In WWII alone, Russia and the Soviet Republics lost over 27 million alone.
This history of invasions, wars, and ultimate victories are hard-wired in the DNA of all Russians. And at this very moment as I am completing this short video, Russia, once again, is fighting for its very survival against powerful forces that want to destroy it.
Once again, Russians are answering the call to protect the Motherland with their lives. Once again, Russians are united as a nation behind their president, and once again, Russia is on the verge of defeating the evil forces of the combined West that are behind this latest war taking place in Ukraine and now on Russian soil.
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