 The site for the new monument was chosen in part because Alexander helped lay the foundation for the original Christ the Savior Cathedral (destroyed in 1931 by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin) and ruled during its construction.The first monument to Alexander II stood above the Kremlin's Taynitsky Gardens and could easily be seen from the Zamoskvorechye district across the Moscow River.Work on the monument was begun under emperor Alexander III in 1893, and was completed five years later under emperor Nicholas II in 1898.