Russia is Building $43M Mansion for Orthodox Patriarch, Media Reports

President Vladimir Putin’s property management department is financing luxury renovations for the Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill’s residence near St. Petersburg, The Bell business outlet reported Tuesday.

The former residence of Russia’s imperial family occupies almost 2.5 hectares (6.1 acres) of land south of St. Petersburg and was designated as church property in 1994.

The Kremlin’s property office awarded the renovation contract valued at 2.8 billion rubles ($43.4 million) to St. Petersburg-based design and construction company Geoizol in 2018, The Bell reported.

Patriarch Kirill’s residence will occupy the equivalent of 14 typical three-bedroom homes, the outlet cited one of several sources in St. Petersburg’s construction industry as saying.

It will be equipped with smart home technology and include a private church, library, pool hall and possibly an elevator, according to the report.

Patriarch Kirill’s spokesman later confirmed that the property is being renovated for him and his foreign guests and noted that the church “has no immediate connection” to the works.

“It’s all being done by the presidential property management directorate and contractors,” the spokesman, Alexander Volkov, told the ura.ru news website.

The church announced as early as 2010 that the property would be converted into Patriarch Kirill’s St. Petersburg residence.

Renovations on the grounds of the Theodore Sovereign’s Cathedral in the southern St. Petersburg suburb of Pushkin are expected to wrap up in December 2021, The Bell reported.

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