 In 1858 empress Maria Alexandrovna commissioned Grimm to design the cathedral in Chersonesos, on the site of a Greek church where Vladimir I of Kiev was baptized in 988.Construction of the cathedral commenced before the Crimean War to the design by Konstantin Thon; after the war, his design was discarded and work began from scratch.Maria's choice was influenced by another Byzantine scholar, Grigory Gagarin.