The Church on the Blood: Where Russia Executed Its Last Tsar

The Church on the Blood in Ekaterimburgo, Russia, stands on the exact site of the Ipatiev House, where Bolshevik forces executed Tsar Nicholas II and his family on July 17, 1918, ending the 300-year Romanov dynasty. The neobyzantine church, built between 2000 and 2003, features an altar positioned nearly exactly over the basement where the execution occurred. The Romanovs, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, remain revered figures, and the site now attracts both worshippers and tourists. The Ipatiev House was demolished in 1977 under orders from Boris Yeltsin, then regional Communist Party chief, who cited insufficient historical significance. The land was transferred to the Orthodox Church in 1990, initially for a small chapel before the larger project materialized.