Russia opens Orthodox Spiritual and Cultural Center in Paris valued at EUR 170 million
The Spiritual and Cultural Center of the Russian Orthodox Church was opened in the heart of Paris on October 19, Radio Svoboda reported. The complex is located near the Eiffel Tower. It includes the Holy Trinity Cathedral with five gilded domes, parochial center, school, cultural center, bookstore, exhibition hall and café.
According to Radio Svoboda, the Spiritual and Cultural Center of the Russian Orthodox Church, funded by the Kremlin, cost about EUR 170 million. The Spiritual and Cultural Center was opened by the Russian minister of culture, Vladimir Medinsky. The president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, canceled his visit to Paris last week against a backdrop of criticism of Moscow’s actions by the West.
It is expected that the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, will consecrate the temple in December during his visit to Paris. All church maintenance works should be completed in 2017. Analysts claim that, by opening the large church center in Paris, Moscow seeks to appear powerful in Europe; as a religious state with well-grounded traditional values.