Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Moscow

The cathedral serves as the cathedral church of the Catholic Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow. It is an important centre of Catholic worship in Russia and a major Moscow religious landmark. Construction took place from 1899 to 1911, initiated by Moscow’s Catholic community.

The cathedral was closed in 1938, later restored to church use, and solemnly re-consecrated on 12 December 1999. The cathedral’s official parish history states that construction began in 1899 and the main building work was completed in 1911, when the church was consecrated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The architect was Tomasz Bohdanowicz-Dworzecki, and the building was designed in a Gothic Revival language that is unusual in central Moscow. The church later experienced closure and secular use during the Soviet period before Catholic worship was restored. Today it serves the Roman Catholic community of Moscow and functions as a cathedral rather than solely as a historic monument. Accounts of its significance should therefore cover both its architecture and the history of Catholic institutional life in the city.