This book explores one of the central themes of Russian history: the artist in opposition to power versus the artist in the service of power. Rather than trace the theme across the broad expanse of time, Holy place narrows the framework, placing the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour at the centre of the story and relating ideology and politics to that famous monument. The result is a learned, multi-faceted and incisive account that throws light on numerous questions while it raises many others. Akinsha and Kozlov, art historians and earlier authors of Beautiful loot: the Soviet plunder of Europe's art treasures, focus on the construction, demolition and reconstruction of one of Moscow's most imposing and controversial cathedrals, using this holy place as a mirror to Russian history over the last two centuries. The authors build their story around five images of the cathedral: the origins of the cathedral project under Tsar Alexander i to commemorate the victory over Napoleon's army; the change in the design and the completion of the monument under Tsar Nicholas i and his grandson Tsar Alexander iii; the destruction of Christ the Saviour by Joseph Stalin in December 1931; plans for the creation of the Palace of Soviets, a ‘tower of Babel’, a mirror to the Stalinist version of Communism; and the reconstruction of the cathedral under Moscow's powerful mayor Yuri Luzhkov in the mid-1990s. The authors' discussion of Alexander i and his young architectural associate Karl Magnus Vitberg is especially interesting. The authors show how Vitberg's original design for the cathedral and its location on the Sparrow Hills, across the Moscow River, paralleled Alexander i's ecumenical ideas, his desire to create a ‘Europe without borders’. The struggles between ecumenical and nationalistic ideas, between ‘unity and connectedness and confrontation and separation’, are depicted throughout each period of the book. The themes of ‘unity and connectedness’ should have, with much effectiveness, been explored more fully. They would conflict sharply with nationalistic elements in Mayor Luzhkov's recent reconstruction of the cathedral, the architectural design of which blended religious and nationalist thoughts and feelings. Holy place is significant not only because it is well researched and tells its story engagingly, but also because it raises many questions about the relationship between art and ideology, about the artist as the conscience of society and as a contributor to state power, and about the Orthodox Church and its connection to the state. By combining architecture, politics and ideology, Akinsha and Kozlov's account of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour underscores how an interdisciplinary approach produces a wider – and deeper – view of a subject than a one-dimensional method. The book is richly illustrated, with materials drawn from archives, libraries and private collections. Clearly written, and, in many places, dramatically narrated, this is a work that will be of much interest to students of art, history, politics and religion, as well as to travellers looking for a first-rate guide to one of Moscow's most important landmarks.