During
World War I, the Russians evacuated Warsaw in August 1915. They took with them most of the Orthodox inhabitants and clergy, as well as many precious works of art from the cathedral. During the German occupation in 1915–1918 the cathedral was used by the German military as a garrison church and renamed for
St Henry. They appropriated the valuable copper roof, towards their war effort, leading to increasing water damage inside the church. They also made some alterations to the cathedral to suit their needs, such as adding a
pipe organ and chairs for the worshippers, as a rule not found in Orthodox churches. After Poland regained its independence in 1918, the fate of the cathedral was the subject of an intense debate for a number of years. It was perceived by the Polish inhabitants of Warsaw as a symbol of Russian domination and hence was very unpopular, and the
Stefan Batory University Arts Faculty estimated it as having little artistic value. There were proposals to make it into a Catholic church. Among other proposals, the famous Polish writer
Stefan Żeromski argued that the Cathedral might be the best place for the Museum of the
Martyrology of Polish people. Others argued on more utilitarian grounds that a church constructed as recently as 1912, and taking up valuable space in one of Warsaw's main squares, was not a significant enough work of architecture to be preserved, given that most of the Russian Orthodox believers had left the city when Russian rule ended. In the end, despite a few protests, it was demolished in 1924–1926,
along with all but two Orthodox churches in Warsaw. Adding to the political and nationwide character to the destruction of the largest Orthodox Cathedral in interwar Poland, the Warsaw magistrate issued
public bonds to "give a chance to every Pole to take part in the action." The bonds were backed by the value of the materials recovered during demolition. However, overall such voices were few and far between. The proponents of its preservation in its original form were contemptuously called the "Cathedralists", thus implicitly accusing them of an underlying lack of patriotism. The demolition itself was complex and required almost 15,000 controlled explosions. The process lasted multiple years, required multiple wrecking companies, and was fraught with failure. In 1925, equipment was imported from
Germany to bore holes in the masonry for explosives, but a detonation in October 1925 failed to destroy the cathedral. According to the
Los Angeles Times, the failure that year resulted in criticism of the government. Much of the high-quality marble obtained during the demolition was reused in the decoration of various Warsaw buildings. The mosaics were carefully disassembled and some of them taken to the Orthodox cathedral in Baranowicze (
Baranavichy). After many years of storage in the
National Museum in Warsaw, other fragments were installed in the
Mary Magdalene Orthodox Cathedral in the Warsaw suburb of
Praga. ==See also==