The Church of Alexander Nevsky

The Russian Church named after Alexander Nevsky was built between the years 1896-1903. Alexander Nevsky was a Russian military leader who lived during the 13^th century. Due to his success in expanding Russia’s borders, he won the public’s admiration and became a patron saint of the Tsar Alexander the 3^rd. During the second half of the 19^th century, the Tsar established many buildings, which decorate the streets of Jerusalem to this day. The Russian consulate was supposed to be built here, next to a crusaders’ hospice, but the discovery of significant archeological findings changed the plan. During the construction works, part of the Byzantine cardo was discovered at the site, as well as remnants of an original portal of the Byzantine Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and also remnants of the Roman forum built during the second century AD. The forum is a market platform with a victory gate situated at its corner. According to the Christian faith, this is the trial gate from the Second Temple era: a gate built into the walls of Jerusalem during these times, where Jesus exited the city towards the place of his crucifixion. The church is built in the Baroque style, decorated with red and white stones. The symbol of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society appears on top of the building. The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society is the institution that established the Russian institutions during the Ottoman era. The symbol contains the Greek letters Xi and Ro- the initials of the word “Xristos”, messiah in Greek. The society’s flag waves on top of the building alongside the Russian flag. In front of this church stands the Lutheran church of the Savior, which was built in a Neo-Romanesque style on top of the crusader church, and was inaugurated in 1898 in the presence of the German emperor Wilhelm the 2^nd.