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It was in 1931 that Stalin ordered the razing of the Saviour’s
Cathedral, with the idea of raising a « Palace of the Soviets » in
its place. A competition was organized. The building imagined
by the architect Iofan resembled a multi-layered wedding cake,
with Lenin at the summit in the role of the bride. Fortunately a
geological study revealed that the erection of this masterpiece
would bring about the collapse of the entire neighborhood, and
so the pool was built instead. Now (1997) the cathedral is going to
be rebuilt, thanks the piety of Patriarch Alexei II and a donation
by Stolichny bank; and the pool will disapear in its turn. For fifty-
five years Muscovites missed their cathedral. Perhaps I’ll be the only
one to miss the pool.