Moscow Cathedral Built on a Swimming Pool

This massive cathedral was once replaced by the world's largest open-air swimming pool. After the original structure was demolished in 1931, the site sat as a public pool for decades before the church was rebuilt in the 1990s.

The Soviet government originally planned to turn the site into a colossal Palace of the Soviets topped by a massive statue of Lenin. When those ambitious plans fell through, the deep foundation pit was repurposed into a heated outdoor pool known as Moskva Pool. It remained a popular social hub for local swimmers until the church was reconstructed to its historical specifications. Today, the cathedral stands as a symbol of the complex shifts in Russia's cultural and political history.