Alexander III had the Church of the Resurrection built with the alter on the exact spot where his father, Alexander II, had been assassinated. Because of this, the church protrudes out into the street on one side and onto the canal on the other. The Church of the Resurrection gained its other name, the Church of the Spilt Blood, because of the assassination.
Alexander III held a competition to find an architect for the project. The church had to be "purely Russian style of the 17th century." Alfred Parland won the competition with a design modeled after St. Basil's in Moscow.
The Church of the Spilt Blood is in constant renovation and seems to be continually surrounded by scaffolding.